How To Train Your Dragon - My Version
by Time Lady Of Gallifrey
Summary: What if Hiccup was a girl and things don't go quite the wauy dreamworks planned? What I think How To Train Your Dragon should have been like Female!Hiccup - Hiccup/Tuffnut - AU/Alternate Universe - Minor: Astrid/Ruffnut - Fishlegs/OC - Snotlout/OC
1. Chapter 1

**BOLD **_**&**__ITALICS_** = MONOLOUGE/NARRATING OVER THE TOP. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT NOR AM IN ANY WAY AFFILIATED WITH HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, BOTH BOOK AND MOVIE ARE NOT OWNED BY ME NOR DO I CLAIM ANY OWNERSHIP TO THEM!**

_**This is Berk. Its twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery. My village in a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have…**_

"Dragons" a young girl hissed, hurriedly slamming the door closed behind her as a huge fireball made its way directly towards her. She leaned against it, breathing heavily at the effort of holding the door closed against the fiery force.

_**Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues.**_She rushed outside, a small smile on her face as she took in the large masses of Vikings attacking the dragons all over the village. _**My name is Hicca.**_ A large man dropped down in front of her that she recognised as Orsk, he picked up his axe and she neatly sidestepped him continuing to run through the village.

_**Great name I know. But, it's not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that. **_A huge blast of fire knocked her off her feet and sent her to the ground with a thud as her face screwed up in pain. The same Viking that just killed the dragon creating the blasts jumped on top of her, roaring loudly in her face before offering her a cheery good morning.

She jumped back up as he left and kept running, making it to the docks along the cliffs that lead to the boats and village centre, the place of action. "What are you doing here?" a lady called, a barrel hoisted over her shoulder. "Get inside," another Viking called, seeing her in the middle of the battleground. A barrage of calls greeted her, "What are you doing out?!" "Get back inside!" the usual warnings and orders during a raid for the young girl.

She was about to cross a narrow road when a dragon soared past, a blast of fire escaped from its jaws and she narrowly missed it as a large hand grabbed the back of her vest and hoisted her into the air, dangling her thin frame away from the fiery breath. "Hicca! What is she doing…?" the voice trailed off only to increase in strength as she was waved about like a rag doll, a face thrust in front of her own, all long red beard and drawn brows "What are you doing out? Get inside!" he yelled then threw her to the side out of harm's way.

The man's muscled form moved about angrily and his beady eyes searched for his next victim. _**That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. **_The burly redhead picked up a nearby overturned cart, hoisting it over his head and flung it skywards, knocking a dragon from the skies as it hit its target. _**Do I believe it? Yes, I do. **_"What have we got?" he asked gruffly, turning to the nearest Viking. "Gronckles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare." He asked swiftly, standing straighter as a sign of respect to his chief.

The Viking that answered cowered under his shield as a fire blast hit nearby. "Any night furies?" the chief asked, still upright as he scanned the sky, "None so far," the Viking said promptly. "Good," the chief sighed relieved. "Hoist the torches!" a Viking shouted, the large pillars rising into the air in a blaze of fire. Hicca meanwhile had escaped from the area in which she had been thrown and made her way through the battle to the edge of the town, entering the forge in a dead run. "Nice of you to join the party! I thought you'd been carried off!" the smithy shouted, happily hammering away at sword to bend it into shape for the next Viking who came along.

"Who, me? No, come on, I'm way to muscular for their taste," she replied teasingly, tightly tying the leather apron around her waist and hurrying to place a piece of an invention back on its place on the wall. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this," she crowed, flexing her non-existent muscles jokingly. "Well… they need toothpicks, don't they?" the smithy laughed, missing her scathing look as he turned and threw open the front window. A group of Vikings hurried up to the forge and dumped their damaged and blunt weapons on the table, going back to join the fight even though they didn't have their weapons. _**The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well, littler. **_

Stoick was standing in front of a group of Vikings, he saw a blast of fire light up the air near them and turned to his nearest comrade, "We move to the lower defences. We'll counterattack with the catapults." He ordered, watching as they agreed and ran downward, several yelling hurry to the others following, Stoick turned on his heel and raced after them, his eyes worriedly scanning the sky. A dragon flew overhead as they ran and a gush of flames spewed from his jaw, setting the thatched roof of a house alight, the fire quickly consuming the entire house.

_**See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses. **_"Fire!" a Viking yelled, turning and glaring back, his eyes crazy with the bloodlust of a fight. Hicca watched as a group of teenagers around her age rushed past, "Alright lets go," a decisively female voice ordered from the front of the group, carrying buckets haphazardly in their hands. Hicca propped herself forward on her hands to see the group over the counter, hurriedly filling their buckets with water, the twins of course fighting over their shared one. _**That's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins: Ruffnut and Tuffnut and Astrid. **_She watched as they all hurried by, throwing the water onto the fires to put them out as much as they could. A stray fireball created a huge wall of fire behind them, setting a dramatic feel to the scene.

_**Fishlegs was big, like bigger than most of the adult Vikings on the island but he was pretty harmless and sort of a wimp, however what he lacked in fighting ability he made up for in smarts, he had read the dragon handbook cover to cover 27 times in the last year that was more times than most Vikings read it in their entire lives, he could list facts about any dragon off the top of his head making him handy in a battle as well as for planning strategies. With a huge body, small head set into large shoulders and rounded face he looked a bit like a true Viking crossed with a toddler.  
Snotlout was rude, loud and unfortunately my cousin. He was under the impression that he was the best fighter of our age and while he had a pretty good bulk he was impatient and lacked skills as well as brains. He boasted an awful lot about everything he had done but was never taken seriously, always acting like a stereotypical grade A jerk. He had short black hair, a block like figure and unfortunately for him facial features that made him look like a prize pig.  
Ruffnut was the female half of the Thorsten twins; she was more mature than her brother but a lot more mischievous. She was also a good fighter and loved battle; she was a bit braver than her brother who freaked out when things became stressed.  
Tuffnut was the male half of the Thorsten twins; he was immature, annoying and a the tiniest bit of a coward when things became hard. While his sister went for the more mischievous route he preferred that of the annoying variety. He could make the most patient person lose their wits and attack. He was as good a fighter as his sister however this was also coupled with a male ego that made him a bit sexist, luckily his sister was always there to sort him out.  
While the twins fought a lot they were each other's targets, no one else's so they had been known to get revenge on people who hurt their other half, Ruffnut's favourite way of going about this was to pull prank after prank until their life was crumbling around them. Tuffnut preferred the good old fashioned way of a sound beating, his fighting for his sister's dignity and respect often ended with the receiving party under care of the elder for a while to be treated for severe injuries.  
The twins were almost exactly alike if not for Tuffnut's lack of a chest, more masculine features and molten silver eyes while his sisters were an ocean blue. People would be unable to tell them apart if they dressed the same and let their hair down.  
Finally was Astrid, she was all around the best in our age group: best fighter, best strategist, best speaker and best looking. She was one of the most sought after girls in the village both for her looks and skills. It was almost certain that in dragon training this year she would be the one to kill the Monstrous Nightmare. Her golden hair, sky like eyes, mature figure and sharp features made her look like a regal elf from the legends, her battle prowess only furthering this rumour.**_

_**Their job is so much cooler. **_She attempted to vault over the counter only to be pulled back by Gobber at the last second. "Oh come on. Let me out, please. I need to make my mark." She moaned, looking down dejectedly as he held her aloft with his hooked hand. "Oh you've made plenty of marks all in the wrong places." He remarked, poking her roughly in the chest with his hook, "Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date," she begged, slumping pitifully.

Gobber almost laughed but lifted his hook to tick things off his fingers, "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe. You can't even throw one of these!" he said exasperated, lifting up the bolas to show her the three metal balls on the end of the wire only to have it ripped out of his hand by a passing Viking who spun it deftly around his head and let go, capturing a Gronkle in its trap, sending it plummeting to the ground. "Ok, fine, but this will throw it for me." She responded, moving back and gesturing to her latest invention, patting it gently only to have it release the bolas and hit a Viking passing by outside in the face, knocking him heavily to the ground.

"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about!" he remarked, lifting his prosthetic arm and moving forward angrily, "Mild calibration issue…" Hicca trailed off, gesturing towards the floor, "Hicca!" Gobber yelled finally at wits end, "If you ever want to get out there and fight dragons you need to stop all… this," he finished, moving his hands to showcase Hicca's frame. "But you just pointed to all of me," Hicca drawled, swiping her hands back and forth then looking up puzzled. "Yes, that's it! Stop being all of you," Gobber instructed. "Ohhhh," Hicca mused as if he had made any sense. "Oh yes," Gobber copied his sound.

"You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Vikingness contained. There will be consequences!" she announced, standing on her tiptoes to get in front of Gobber's face. "I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now," he ordered turning and grabbing a sword before tossing it into Hicca's arms and walking away. Hicca took it without complaint and moved to the wheel, setting it rolling and placed the blade on it, carefully sharpening each edge to a near finesse.

_**One day, I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough; taking down one of those would definitely get me a boyfriend. A zipplebacks? Exotic. Two heads. Twice the status.**_

"They found the sheep!" a man called, watching as the dragons came nearer to one of their food sources. "Concentrate fire over the lower bank," Stoick ordered, already turning the gear for the catapults moving mechanism. "Hurry up!" "Fire!" a voice shrieked, sending a Viking from the catapults through the air to hit a flying dragon, dragging it back towards the earth.

_**And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.**_

"Reload! I'll take care of this." Stoick ordered, turning back towards the flaming beast that was slowly climbing up the catapult towards him. He grabbed his war hammer from his belt, delivering a swift hit to the dragons head then another two in quick succession, successfully tossing the dragons head from side to side with the blows.

_**But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen. We call it the…**_

"Night fury!" someone cried, Hicca looked up from her sharpening at the tell-tale whistling of a night fury about to strike. "Get down!" the Viking next to him called, everyone quickly huddling under their shields as the purple flame hit a nearby catapult, burning the wooden structure and blowing it apart upon impact, sending pieces of it flying haywire. A call of "Jump!" came from the direction and she could see darkened shadows leaping from the wreckage, clear against the bright background.

_**This thing never steals food, never shows itself and… never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first.**_

She walked quickly away from the window through which she was watching the action, emerging to see Gobber fastening an axe prosthetic to his left wrist. "Man the fort, Hicca. They need me out there," he ordered, quickly limping out of the forge on his peg leg. He turned at the last second and pointed an accusing finger in her direction, "Stay. Put. There," he told her, slowly moving backwards. "You know what I mean," he added, spinning on his real foot and rushing into the battle, screaming loudly and waving his axe over his head.

Hicca took her chance and grabbed her bola launcher, assembling a new bola into the slot and hurried outside ignoring the calls of "Where are you going?" and "Come back here," practically skipping through the town in her excitement of finally being outside during a raid. "Hicca!" a woman yelled, spotting her retreating form.

Four Deadly Nadders stood crowded around a flock of sheep, the woollen creatures huddling closer together in fear at the huge beasts. Stoick spotted them just in time and threw a large net over the group, trapping the dragons inside without their power of flight due to the constricting space. "Let's get them!" several Vikings yelled, rushing forwards, axes and swords in hand. One of the heads nearly escaped, the jaws opening to spew fire through the air, "Mind yourself! The devils still have some juice in them" Stoick yelled, leaping into the air and landing on the snout, effectively closing the jaws and halting the flames. He wrestled the head down, pinning it to the floor beneath his large hands.

Hicca dashed down the hill, her bola launcher in front of her as she halted suddenly at the bottom of the hill, setting the back down and unpacking the aiming and firing compartments in a rush. The night was silent, the sounds of the battle had faded into the background and Hicca could hear the calls of the birds echoing across the night. "Come on. Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at," she muttered, her eyes scanning the starry sky for any sign of the Night Fury. She spotted a dark shape black out a patch of stars before the whistling began and a ball of fire hit a nearby catapult, as the glow increased Hicca could make out a dragon shape flying quickly away.

She swung her launcher around and fired, the force sending her back to the ground. She could see the outline of the bola for several seconds before it faded into the darkness, a keening wail of anger was heard and a large smile spread across her face, she had hit it, she had hit a night fury. "I hit it? Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?" she cheered, turning and flinging out her arms. A loud growl came from behind her and she turned her eyes widening, "Except for you," she muttered, coming face to face with a monstrous nightmare.

Stoick turned from his task holding down the Nadders as he heard a terrified shriek, he turned to see a small silhouette running from the huge shape of a monstrous nightmare, he could tell almost straight away who the figure was and hurried forward only stopping to order the Vikings to no allow the Nadders to escape before he raced away, hurrying towards who he was sure was his child. The nightmare chased Hicca through the village; she hid behind a pole only for it to burst into flames, the heat nearly singeing her hair.

The head slowly peeked around the corner as Hicca looked the other way for the dragon; it opened its jaws and prepared to strike only to have its head jumped on by Stoick, knocking it to the side and away from Hicca who was an inch from death. The force of the push knocked the Monstrous Nightmare away from Hicca and Stoick safely rolled out from his leap, landing so he was faced towards the dragon. The monstrous nightmare snarled, opening its jaws only for a small stream of liquid fire to gush out then stop. "You're all out," Stoick whispered, squaring his shoulders and stalking forwards, landing a heavy hit against the dragon's jaw that forced it backwards.

He moved forward as the nightmare was driven back, hitting the huge beast again and again with all of his strength, a final kick to the face sent the monstrous nightmare reeling, it turned and launched itself into the air, Stoick watched it go with an air of disappointment that it was still alive, he slowly spun so he was facing Hicca, his face set in a harsh scowl.

_**Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know**_

The post Hicca was hiding behind fell, almost in slow motion; the top was still burning brightly and thudded into the wooden pathways. "Sorry, Dad," Hicca muttered, wincing as several shrieks and loud crashes came from the direction in which the large ball of wood set alight had rolled. It crashed past people, heading straight for the net where the Nadders were captured, the Vikings holding them down yelled and scattered, allowing them to escape in their desperate attempts to get away from the burning wood.

"Okay, but I hit a Night Fury," Hicca said turning away from the sight of the dragons flying away, a net of sheep held in several of the dragons' claws. Stoick frowned and grabbed the back of Hicca's vest, dragging her along behind him, "It's not like the last few times, Dad! I really, actually hit it!" she yelped, just allowing her father to pull her along. "You guys were busy. I had a very clear shot. It went off Raven Point. Let's get a search party…" she trailed off as her father turned to her, his eyes steaming. "Stop!" he yelled, "Just stop," he sounded so weary and honestly with the amount of times this had happened the village really couldn't blame him.

"Every time you step outside disaster follows," he continued, "Can you not see I have bigger problems. Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" he gestured to the crowd and rolled his eyes, returning them to stare at Hicca. Hicca barely managed to hold in a laugh, "Well between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding don't you think," she commented light-heartedly. Most of the villagers looked around and held their hands self-consciously over their stomachs, most flushed embarrassed.

"This isn't a joke, Hicca!" Stoick yelled, sensing his daughters teasing manner, "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" he asked exasperated with this whole thing. "I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just kill it, it's who I am Dad" she responded, trying to sound brave. "You are many things, Hicca. But a dragon killer is not one of them," Stoick muttered, running a hand over his face. "Get back to the house, make sure she gets there" he ordered, nodding to Gobber to take her. The smithy whacked her over the back of the head, ignoring her half-hearted glare, "I have her mess to clean up," he finished, already striding away to start the reconstruction of the village. On the way they passed the group of teenagers, "Quite the performance," Tuffnut sneered, leaning over to nudge his twin inconspicuously, Hicca kept her head down, missing the way Tuffnut's eyes continued to follow her.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped," Snotlout said condescendingly, "Thank you, thank you, I was trying." she muttered sarcastically, she felt marginally better when she caught Gobber pushing him to the ground by his helmet as he passed, Gobber was more of a father to her than her own father had ever been.

"I really did hit one," she said as they climbed the final steps to the Chief's house, "Sure Hicca," Gobber placated, following the young girl up the hill. "He never listens," she complained, turning back to try and make her point, "Runs in the family," Gobber commented brightly and Hicca wasn't sure whether or not to take that as a compliment or insult. "And when he does, it's with this disappointed scowl, like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich," she muttered, turning and pretending to impersonate her father.

"Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered and extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fishbone" she finished, letting her arms drop to her sides; she always knew that her dad resented her being a girl instead of a boy. "Now you're thinking about this all wrong It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand," he stressed the inside part as if that was helping and Hicca made a face at him, was this supposed to be helping? "Thank you for summing that up," she said finally, turning to go back into the house.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not," Gobber finished kindly, gesturing slowly, "I just want to be one of you guys," she whispered finally, defeat evident in her tone. She closed the door behind her and Gobber sighed sadly, when would she learn that she wasn't like them, she was different and that was okay.


	2. Chapter 2

Hicca waited till Gobber had left from his spot outside the front door, obviously waiting for her to try and sneak back out. As soon as she heard the tell-tale click of his prosthetic leg against the stone steps she quickly made her way out the back of the house, escaping into the forest that was a mere stone's throw away from the back of the house. Meanwhile Stoick had called a meeting for the villagers in the food hall, the people gathered around the main table, a map spread across the top surface.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us!" Stoick yelled, pointing to places on the map, "It's the only way we'll be rid of them. If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home!" he announced, stabbing his knife into the map where they had estimated the location of the nest to be. "One more search before the ice sets in," he commanded, looking around at his people with steady eyes. "Those ships never come back," a random voice called out from the crowd and Stoick couldn't help but agree with him in his head.

"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?!" he asked, pushing his own fears to the side. No one in the hall raised their hand; each of them had families to look after especially now winter was coming. "Count me out." "Today's no good for me." "I have to do my axe returns." Came the same murmurs throughout the hall, each Viking looking away ashamed of their cowardice. "Alright. Those who stay will look after Hicca," Stoick declared, standing up to his full height. "To the ships! I'm with you!" came the yells as every Viking in the hall raised their hands to come, each more afraid of Hicca than of never coming back.

"That's more like it," he muttered satisfied, Gobber placed his now empty mug-hand down by his side and walked over to join Stoick, "Right, I'll pack my undies," he said, his eyes blurring slightly. "No. I need you to stay here and train some new recruits," Stoick said, sitting down on the bench as Gobber scoffed. "Perfect. And while I'm busy, Hicca can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to herself, what could possibly go wrong?" he offered sarcastically, throwing his good hand up in the air. "Uh, what am I going to do with her, Gobber?" Stoick sighed, slamming his fist down in frustration.

"Put her in training with the others," Gobber suggested, turning to look at his long-time friend, "No, I'm serious," Stoick scoffed, "So am I," Gobber stressed. "She'd be killed before you let the first dragon is out of its cage," he said sadly, "You don't know that" Gobber told him, turning back to his mead as he stuck up for Hicca, "I do, actually," Stoick responded, "No, you don't" "No, I do" "No, you don't," Gobber exclaimed, finally fed up with this, he turned and watched as Stoick stuck his hands on his hips and leaned forward, "Listen, you don't know what she's like. From the time she could crawl, she's been… different. She doesn't listen. She has the attention span of a sparrow. I take her fishing and she goes hunting for trolls!" Stoick finished, finally stopping his pacing to look back at Gobber who was immersed in finding a hard object in his mug.

"Trolls exist. They steal your socks. But only the left ones, what's with that?" Gobber wondered, turning back around as Stoick tried to explain his reluctance. "When I was a boy…" Stoick started, "Here we go," Gobber sighed, used to hearing this story every time Hicca did something wrong. "…my father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?" Stoick asked rhetorically, "You got a headache," Gobber pretended to guess but knew what was coming. "That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, and tame seas!" Stoick finally finished his rant and went back to Gobber's side, falling back down onto the bench.

"Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become. Hicca is not like that Gobber" Stoick said dejectedly, "You can't stop her Stoick. You can only prepare her. I know it seems hopeless, but you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again. She's probably out there right now," Gobber confessed, finally facing Stoick as the Chief's face set in a scowl of determination. "Thanks Gobber," he said, standing up and leaving the hall.

***************************LINE BREAK***************************

Hicca was moving steadily across the island, her notebook with a map of the entire forest and wilderness was marked with lots of tiny black crosses, places she had searched for the Night Fury she had shot down. A thought entered her head, what if it managed to get free from its bonds and was now stalking the person who shot it down, she dismissed that almost at once, it wouldn't do to dwell on scenarios like that when she was all alone. She took one last look at the area she was in then marked it off her map with a sigh of annoyance.

She finally drew a giant scribble across her map, fed up with not getting anywhere. "Oh the gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No not me I manage to lose an entire dragon," she huffed aloud. She stopped to consider what Gobber had said, he was partly right sure her dad hated what was on the inside but he disliked what was on the outside almost as much. She glanced down her body, she was meant to be born a boy, maybe then her father would be proud of her. Her dark hair looked half red and half brown with tiny streaks bleached blond by the sun. Her eyes were wide and anime liked, her eyes were a rarity on berk where most people either had small beady eyes where you couldn't see the colour or if you could they were brown, blue or sometimes silvery grey like Tuffnut's. She inherited her eyes from her mother; they were a deep emerald green with flecks of silver that made her eyes shine in the sun.

Her face was oval shaped with a sharp button nose and a group of freckles dotted across the bridge of it and over a tiny bit of her cheeks. She was quite mature for her age and had lots of curves in all the right places but every morning she bound her chest so it made her look more like a boy, she didn't want to give anyone another reason to pick on her. Astrid and Ruffnut knew that she bound her chest, they did the same thing but not tightly like her, they weren't trying to hide their chests they were just trying to make it more comfortable under their armour.

It was an unspoken rule among the girls that no matter what they said during the teasing sessions they never mention the wrappings they wore under their clothes, it was embarrassing to talk about around the boys as they were so immature for their age. Unfortunately for Hicca even with the bindings her chest was bigger than the other two girls so she was often teased. Her clothes were a mixture of both the girls' and the boys' styles. She wore a long sleeved shirt that went to just below her hip and was black, held together by a black criss cross of ties. She wore a blue undershirt and a matching pair of tights that tucked into a pair of brown leather boots with fur inside. A bronze belt made of two linked pieces of steel was wrapped around her waist and she often wore a necklace made of gold and silver beads. Her long hair when loose went to her waist in small waves and ringlets but she plaited it every morning so that the others kids didn't tease her.

She was different in every way on Berk from her eyes, to her clothes to her hair, her hair that he had inherited from her mother as all the Vikings on Berk had straight hair that only looked different when it became matted and group together like her father's beard. Not many people knew how her hair really looked only her father, Gobber and the elder had ever seen her with it down but never told anyone as she was already enough of an outcast and a disappointment. She huffed in exasperation and smacked aside the tree branch that was hanging in front of her, it came swinging back with a vengeance and she had no time to shield her face.

"Ow!" she shrieked, reaching up to cover her eye then slowly lowered it as her eyes followed the branch to the trunk only to see it split in two, the half facing the bottom of the hill was nearly broken from the top and had bent into a u shape. Her eyes followed the path in which it had bent and her eyes lit up as she recognised deep gouges in the ground that had been made by something exceptionally heavy.

She slowly made her way down the steep hill, suspiciously inspecting the tracks in the dirt, she turned her head just in time to see a huge dark shape on the ground over the side of the hill, she gasped and ducked, her breathing coming out in short pants. She raised her head carefully, her eyes wide with fear and peeked over the edge, her mouth dropping open as she scrambled for her knife, holding it carefully in both hands as she moved in minuscule steps towards the shape.

She slowly looked around the rock and saw it was a black dragon; it had never been recorded so Hicca was certain that this was the legendary night fury. "Oh, wow. I did it!" she exclaimed amazed, "Ohhhh I did it. This fixes everything! Yes!" she cheered, moving forward a few steps and gesturing towards the black dragon. Everything would be good from now on, her father would be proud, the other teenagers would look up to her and Tuffnut would… she cut off her train of thinking, he wasn't important to her, he had tortured her for years.

"I have brought down this mighty beast!" she placed a foot on its neck envisioning herself in front of the village with the dragon at her feet. A loud groan from beneath her forced her back against the large boulder, her hand with the knife flat against the rock as she slightly cowered. The dragon shifted slightly in its bonds and breathed heavily, its eyes still closed, Hicca advanced on it cautiously, her small dagger that belonged to her mother was clutched in her hand and pointed towards the neck.

She shifted her eyes along its body noticing the way the bolas had wound around it stopped it from moving, keeping its legs restrained against its body. Her eyes moved up its body until she stopped on its face, the eye facing her was wide open, forest green, a shade lighter than her own but with a slitted pupil like a cats' eye. She saw the fear in its eye, the fear of death. She turned slowly away and moved her knife up, keeping a firm grip on it as her hand wavered slightly, against her will her eyes moved to meet that of the dragon; she was taking short breaths now, attempting to put its pleading gaze out of her mind.

"I'm going to kill you, dragon. Then I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I am a Viking. I am a Viking!" she exclaimed almost as if she was trying to convince herself of that fact. She lifted the dagger over her head, trying to ignore the moan of pain from the dragon as it continued to gaze steadily at her. She closed her eyes but opened one at the last second, meeting the gaze of the dragon; she shook her head and closed her eyes, once again drawing the dagger back over her head. The dragon gave a wail and closed its eye, letting its head drop back down to the earthy ground as it accepted its fate.

Hicca made one last attempt to thrust the dagger downwards but stopped, letting it drop along with her closed fists onto her head, groaning in annoyance. She lowered her hands off her head and gazed at it, turning her attention back to the dragon and its bonds, "I did this," she muttered ashamed of how she had acted. She turned to go but something stopped her, a tiny voice at the back of her head telling her that it she left the dragon here bond and helpless it would be just as dead if she had plunged a dagger into its heart.

She turned back and against her better judgement began to saw at the ropes, watching with satisfaction as they gave way beneath the knife and kept sawing. As the final rope came undone the dragon suddenly moved, it gave a loud roar and turned, pouncing on Hicca so she was shoved back against the boulder with a loud gasp, the Night Fury's paw was around her throat, holding her against the rock and she cringed internally it showed on the outside with loud gasps, preparing for the end she was sure was about to come. The dragons head came closer and closer until she was staring directly into its green eyes, once she was closer she noticed that they were not only green but had bolts of blue and yellow running through them giving off the impression of electricity.

Aodh stared down at the peculiar human female; she was not like the others on this island. They were big, loud, strong and brave. They were without mercy or compassion so why was this small, weak looking girl letting him go. Surely she knew that the second it had happened he would have killed her yet she didn't kill him, she let him go. Aodh was honourable; he would spare her life in return for setting him free. Aodh had often heard on his travels that the eyes were the windows to the human soul yet he had never seen those quite like hers, they were wide and fearful yet full of hope and wonder, there was something else there something that made her different from the others on this island with their brutish manners.

She cringed back as he reared up, his jaw opening, she did not yet know he would spare her life, however she must be punished for shooting him down in the first place. He opened his mouth as wide as it would go and leant down, roaring as loudly as he could in her face to scare her before turning and throwing himself into the air. He could tell almost instantly that something was wrong as he veered and struggled to glide before crashing several times and landing in a small cove with a lake and many hiding places.

Hicca fell back against the rock, the night fury had just let her live, she had snatched it from the sky and yet it still let her live. She watched in concern as it thudded into several trees and rock faces before gradually lowering into a small cove. She stood back up and managed to walk several paces before she collapsed, her knife dropping from her hand. It had been nearly a day since she ate and that coupled with the stress of the past few hours took its toll, leaving her passed out on the forest floor.

She woke several hours later when it was beginning to get dark and began stumbling back through the forest; going blindly down the paths that she was certain would lead her to the village. Her steps were sluggish and slow, her head throbbed from hitting it on the ground when she collapsed and the lack of food and water was affecting her body. She could vaguely make out the shapes of buildings in the distance and clutched a nearby tree, trying desperately to keep going. She saw a small figure making its way towards her but her eyes were becoming fuzzy and she was finding it more and more difficult to stand.

Just before she collapsed she felt a strong arm wind around her waist and another under her knees, lifting her up against a hard chest, "What's wrong with you?" she heard a familiar voice ask but she was to dizzy to pinpoint it, she recognised what she was sure to be blond hair and her brain went haywire trying to figure out the name of her rescuer.

Tuffnut sighed, looking down at the nearly unconscious girl in his arms. He had been out practising with his axes, preparing the first day of training tomorrow when he spotted her stumbling out of the forest, she had been missing since before breakfast so it was no doubt she was hungry and dehydrated. He noticed a small bruise forming on her forehead that hadn't been there this morning he knew because he was watching her again… no! No he wasn't his eyes simply wanted to look in that direction and she was in the way. He seemed to noticed for the first time just how light she was, he and his twin were about the same size and build yet they still weighed quite a bit, she was tiny with a petite frame and an even smaller weight.

He began to feel worried, it seemed like she was wasting away slowly. He pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear that had fallen out from her tight plaits, racking his brain to try and remember when he had last seen her without them in, then came to the startling conclusion that he had never seen her with her hair down, even Astrid and his sister let their hair down when they weren't fighting or working during dragon raids. He looked up and noticed that he was almost at her house, he took a final look at the girl in his arms and realised that with the way he was carrying her someone could misinterpret the situation.

He stopped a bit back from her door and gently set her down, waiting till she was standing before turning to leave, "Thank you Tuffnut," he heard a small voice say from behind him. He turned back around to see Hicca leaning against the door and rubbing her eyes like a little child. He nodded once and spun on his heel, moving quickly down the long stairs back to the village, he chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw Hicca pushing open the door, allowing it to close behind her with a dull thud. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and hurried home, knowing that his mother would begin to worry he had been carried off by dragons.

Hicca slowly entered the house, trying to be as quiet as she could so she wouldn't alert her father to her presence, she should have been home hours ago. It was a miracle that Tuffnut was even out there, even more so that he willingly helped her. She could still smell the spicy scent that was distinctly him; remember the way his arms had held her close as if she was a precious bundle. She shook her head annoyed, she did not like Tuffnut, he had spent most of his life torturing her and that was not about to change just because he helped her once.

She spotted her dad by the fire and grimaced, tiptoeing towards the stairs as quickly as she dared; she was halfway up when she heard a voice behind her. "Hicca," Stoick straightened up and Hicca stopped, cringing when she realised she had been caught, "Dad! I have to uh… talk to you, Dad" she responded civilly. "I need to speak with you too son," Stoick said, heaving himself out of his seat and facing Hicca. "I don't want to fight dragons," "It's time you learn to fight dragons," they both said at the same time. "What?" they both asked, facing each other as they tried to decipher what was said in the jumble of words.

"Uh, you first," Stoick offered. "No, you go first," Hicca offered, slowly climbing back down the ladder. "All right. You get your wish. Dragon Training… you start in the morning" Stoick said, drawing himself up and placing his hands on his hips. "Oh, man, I should have gone first," Hicca said balancing her elbow on her wrist and placing her chin on her fist. "Uh cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings or small-home-repair Vikings?" Hicca asked, twirling her hands together as a nervous habit.

"You'll need this," Stoick said, cutting her off and dropping a large single-sided axe in Hicca's arms that was nearly as tall as she was and probably weighed more. "I don't want to fight dragons," Hicca explained exasperated, Stoick chuckled, "Oh come one. Yes, you do," he grinned, turning and walking away, "Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons," Hicca raised her voice to try and get her point across, "But you will kill dragons," Stoick stated like it was obvious, "No, I'm really very extra-sure that I won't," Hicca was by now nearly collapsing under the weight of her axe.

"It's time Hicca," Stoick said seriously, "Can you not hear me?" Hicca asked incuriously, "This is serious Hicca. When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you" Stoick stressed, Hicca resisted the urge to comment that that must be why it was so heavy. "Which means you walk like us, you talk like us… you think like us. No more of this," Stoick finished, gesturing to Hicca, "You just gestured to all of me," she deadpanned, seeing the similarities between Stoick and Gobber. "Deal?" Stoick questioned, "This conversation is feeling very one-sided," Hicca said, shrugging her shoulders, "Deal?" Stoick said a bit more forcibly, "Deal," Hicca sighed, finally allowing the axe to drop.

"Good," Stoick stated, hoisting a large sack over his shoulder "Train hard, I'll be back. Probably," Stoick said awkwardly, placing his helmet on his head and opening the door and leaving with a bang, "And I'll be here. Maybe" Hicca offered weakly, staring dejectedly after her father.

**WHAT DO YOU THINK SO FAR? PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**OKAY DREAMWORKS RECENTLY CREATED A HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON OFFICIAL WEBSITE, GO CHECK IT OUT IT'S PRETTY COOL! ANYWAY I FOUND THE DRAGON HANDBOOK ON THERE AND JUST COULDN'T HELP MYSELF, I FEEL THAT IN THE MOVIETHEY DIDN'T GIVE US ENOUGH INFORMATION ABOUT EACH DRAGON INSTEAD HAVING HICCA READ TINY BITS OF ONLY SOME OF THEM SO I'M GOING TO ADD A BIT MORE INFORMATION TO ALL BUT THE NIGHT FURY WHICH OF COURSE HAS TO REMAIN BLANK. SO ENJOY! AND PLEASE REVIEW, I LOVE FEEDBACK AS LONG AS IT'S NOT JUST FLAMES!**

"Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber called, pushing up the metal gate to the kill arena to allow the teenagers to enter. "No turning back," Astrid muttered, leading the group through the tunnel to enter the ring. They all looked around in awe at the mighty structure, the one they had gazed upon their whole lives and told themselves that one day they would be the one to kill the dragon in there; they would have the honour of the whole villages' eyes on them as they became a Viking.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut both carried their double ended spears, the blades sharpened to perfection. Fishlegs carried a huge hammer made of a large square rock fastened to a sturdy handle, Astrid had her usual double bladed axe that reached to her waist when rested on the ground and Snotlout carried a black spiked mace with silver spikes. "I hope I get some serious burns." Tuffnut announced, demonstrating his point with a punch to the air. "I'm hoping for some mauling like on my shoulder or lower back," Ruffnut responded, shrugging back her shoulders.

"Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it." Astrid said lightly, still ahead of the group, Fishlegs had yet to speak, his eyes widening as he took in the large cell doors on the edge of the arena. "Yeah, no kidding right?" Hicca mumbled from the back of the group, she had woken up late and had to rush to training, a feat not made easier by the heavy axe she was forced to carry. "Pain. Love it" she said sarcastically rolling her eyes at their conversation.

"Oh great. Who let her in?" Tuffnut asked, his heart secretly clenching with worry as he thought of all the injuries she could obtain, he quickly dismissed it and concentrated on the insults being thrown. "Let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village," Gobber announced, walking over to the group and sweeping his hand through the air as if visualising an invisible crowd. "Hicca already killed a night fury, so does that disqualify her?" Snotlout asked jeeringly. The twins burst out into laughter and Fishlegs had to stifle a few chuckles.

Hicca was silently debating in her head on whether or not to tell them about what happened yesterday but dismissed it, knowing that they wouldn't believe her. "Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Ruffnut sneered, turning along with the group to move further into the ring. "Don't worry. You're small and weak… that'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead" Gobber comforted and Hicca resisted the urge to face palm, what was wrong with her mentor that he thought that what he said was in any way helping.

Gobber had gradually walked her towards the group and let go of her as they drew near, moving in front of his newest batch of students. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight!" Gobber yelled moving towards the first door, "The Deadly Nadder!" he called, "Speed 8, armour 16" Fishlegs chanted, "The Hideous Zippleback," "Plus 11 stealth. Times 2" "The Monstrous Nightmare," "Firepower 15" "The Terrible Terror" "Attack 8, venom 12" Fishlegs was becoming excited and his voice had risen. "Can you stop that?!" Gobber screamed exasperated. "And the Gronkle." "Jaw strength 8" Fishlegs whispered to Hicca out of the corner of his mouth, making sure that Gobber didn't hear, Tuffnut scowled as he saw their close proximity out of his peripheral vision, it was well known that Fishlegs was really her only friend.

Gobber smiled wickedly and started moving the lever down, "Odin's beard!" Hicca exclaimed, slowly backing away. "What? What is it?" Astrid called annoyed as all the recruits turned to stare at her, "When he smiles like that it means he's going to do something he finds fun," she explained, still shuffling backwards. The other trainees were still looking at her strangely, "That means it's going to be painful for us," she continued and their eyes widened, obviously trusting her judgement as she knew the smithy better.

They turned to look at the warrior as the lever moved further down to release, "Wait, aren't you gonna teach us first?" Snotlout complained panicked, moving forward quickly to stand in front of the other students. "I believe in learning on the job," Gobber said lightly, finally thrusting down the lever and leaving the ring quickly, positioning himself so he could make sure that none of them got killed.

The Gronkle burst through the unlocked door and charged straight for the group of teenagers who were paying close attention to Gobber's instructions as they scattered to dodge the attack of the angry dragon. "Today is about survival. If you get blasted… you're dead," Gobber deadpanned, the Gronkle was moving too fast after the teenagers and was unable to stop before crashing into the wall, he quickly got back up and started flying again, albeit a bit dizzily. "Quick! What's the first thing you'll need?!" Gobber yelled, watching intensely as the students scrambled about the arena.

"A doctor?" Hicca called incuriously and Tuffnut mentally prayed to Odin that she wouldn't need one before snapping out of that thought, "Plus 5 speed?" Fishlegs asked obviously quoting something from the dragon handbook. "A shield!" Astrid yelled, ducking and tumbling towards the pile in the arena, her voice clearly held a duh tone. "Shields. Go!" Gobber ordered, pointing hastily towards them for the rest of the students to follow Astrid's lead. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield!" Gobber called, the rest of the group hurriedly ran up to the pile and grabbed a shield. "If you must choose between a sword or a shield, take the shield!" he advised, moving quickly over to Hicca and helping her with her shield before pushing her towards the group and the dragon.

The twins stood in the middle of the pile, each had a strong hold on a shield painted with two flaming skulls on a green and brown background, "Get your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut yelled, pulling it towards him, "There are a million shields," his sister cried, tugging it back, "Take that one. It has a flower… girls like flowers." Tuffnut retorted, cocking his head towards a pink flowery shield. Ruffnut's face screwed up in a grimace of distaste at his sexist comment and gave an extra hard pull, slipping the shield from Tuffnut's grasp.

She held it over her head and brought it down, hitting Tuffnut squarely on the top of his helmet and eliciting a harsh ow! from him. "Oops, now this one has blood on it," his sister said, giving him a mocking smile and holding it out towards him to check as he sat down hard on the dusty floor of the ring. He grabbed it and used it to pull himself to his feet, the twins once again resuming their fight over the shield, not noticing the Gronkle closing in on them until it was too late and a ball of fire knocked the shield from their hands, sending them spinning in the air before landing on the floor, the force of the fire knocking them to the ground.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut! You're out!" Gobber called, beckoning them from the arena with his hook. "What?" Tuffnut moaned, the two siblings swaying heavily as they stumbled to their feet and exited the arena, leaning on each other to support themselves. "Shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it to throw off the dragon's aim!" Gobber told them, moving forward to get a closer eye on the action. The four teens quickly received the message and moved back, using their various weapons to bang heavily on their shields causing loud metallic shrieks to spring from their direction as they stood in a square shape around the dragon so it was surrounded by noise.

They could see it becoming confused, its head tossing from side to side as it tried to determine where its prey was. "All dragons have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?" Gobber asked, moving a bit further into the arena from his previous spot in the tunnel. "Five?" Snotlout called out, unsure of himself, "No, six!" Fishlegs said, obviously remembering something from the dragon handbook, Hicca decided to trust him on this one. "Correct, six! That's one for each of you!" Gobber's praise turned to humour as the teens paled.

Fishlegs nodded happily and raised his shield in acknowledgement only to have it knocked from his hands and blasted against the arena wall. "Fishlegs, out!" Gobber called, sounding bored with how easily the meaty boy got out. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder towards the exit. Fishlegs face morphed into an expression of terror and he threw his hands into the air, speeding as fast as he could out of the arena, a shrill cry erupting from his throat. You could hear the twins jesting him from inside the arena.

"Hicca, get in there!" Gobber called and Tuffnut unconsciously leaned forward in his seat in annoyance, was Gobber crazy, Hicca was going to get eaten if she went into battle. He saw his twin sister smirking at him knowingly and he jumped back, leaning back but his eyes followed the red head's movements as she inched out of her hiding spot behind an old broken bit of the arena.

A fireball exploded right next to her head and she lifted her shield, scrambling back into her hiding place. Snotlout was once again trying to Astrid's attention, not the best idea during a dragon training session. "So, I moved into my parent's basement. You should come by sometime and work out. You look like you work out." He commented, watching her dart away, he turned his face back to the front but was to slow to stop the dragon from hitting his shield and sending him flying. "Snotlout! You're done!" Gobber called and the burly teenager quickly exited the arena to go and sit with his friends on the edge of the arena.

"Sooo, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Hicca said casually, moving to stand near Astrid. "Nope, just you," she responded, leaping to the side away from the charging Gronkle as a ball of fire speed towards them. Hicca barely had enough time to get her shield up before the flaming ball erupted on the wood and metal surface, knocking the shield from her arms. "One shot left!" Gobber announced, the Gronkle still bore down on Hicca, ignoring the larger threat of Astrid as she darted to the other side of the ring.

Hicca was still chasing after her rolling shield, hoping to get some protection to exit the ring with; she was so busy trying to catch it that she missed the Gronkle coming closer and closer to her. Tuffnut tensed, digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands as he watched her sprint after the shield, the Gronkle's fiery jaws getting closer and closer. She abandoned the shield as she finally looked over her shoulder and saw the dragon chasing her; she kept running only to be met with a wall, Hicca!" Gobber yelled, rushing forwards to help.

The Gronkle had her backed against the wall, its razor teeth inches from Hicca's face it opened its mouth and a ball of fire began to form in its throat she closed her eyes and turned her head but could still feel the warmth of the inner fire on her face. A hook as slipped into the corner of the dragon's mouth and yanked it away just in time to avoid blowing Hicca's head to pieces, "And that's six. Go back to bed you overgrown sausage" Gobber muttered, dragging the dragon away by the hook in its mouth. He used the momentum of the dragon's flight to throw it back into its cage and lock the doors, the heavy wooden bar settling over the entrance and the lever pushed back into place.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry. Remember, a dragon will always," he said, addressing it to the teenagers who were once again entering the ring, Hicca was still flat against the wall and Gobber leaned towards her, "Always go for the kill," he stated, hoisting her up by her arm and setting her back on her feet. Hicca turned to stare at the smoking hole in the arena wall, the glowing ember were still hot and burned red. She turned and ran from the arena, unaware of the stunning grey eyes that followed her as she left.

She quickly skidded through the forest, tripping several times over sticking out tree limbs and tall roots but each time she clambered to her feet and continued running. When she arrived at the place she had let the Night Fury go the day before she saw that the cut pieces of the bola were still lying there. She thought back to Gobber's words, "A dragon will always go for the kill," she whispered, "So… why didn't you?" she mused, picking up the bola in her hands and weighing it carefully.

She placed the bola back on the ground and followed the path she had seen the night fury take, huge grey boulders greeted her through the trees, their size was easily 3 of Hicca high and spanned in a circle formation. She walked quickly around the perimeter and came across a narrow crack that she would just be able to slip through. When she entered she had to hold back a gasp, the area behind the boulders was a beautiful cove with a lake in the middle and thin rays of sunlight that shone through the narrow holes in the trees canopies.

Her eyes scanned the entire cove, looking for a group of shining ebony scales in the small enclosure, "Well, this was stupid," she muttered, her gaze drifted towards the ground but halted as they spotted a trail of small black circles that looked suspiciously like scales. She bent to pick one up in her hand and turned it over, examining the scales that had never before been found. A loud screech echoed around the area as a huge black shape darted upwards past Hicca, startling her out of her ministrations.

She crept forward and saw it desperately scrambling at the rock for a hold only to slowly slide back down the face; it pushed off at the last second and narrowly avoided hitting the ground. It unfurled its wings and used them to glide across the surface of the lake, coming to a descent on the other side with a small rumble. Hicca's face lit up in a pleased smile, her eyes darted about for a lower ledge and she quickly scrambled down, knowing if she got hurt no one would be able to help her this far out in the forest, not that she expected anyone to want to help her. Her foot slipped slightly as she searched for a foot hole, her eyes taking in the Night Fury with abject wonder. Her eyebrows furrowed together when she noticed that it was having trouble staying in the air for more than a few seconds, not nearly long enough to get over the rocks of the cove.

Her hands fumbled for her sketchbook in her vest, her shaking hands hurriedly pulled it from its pocket and picked up her pencil. Sketching with deft strokes the outline of the Night Fury, the sketch was done in seconds but her brow furrowed as she noticed her mistake, she had added a tail fin where there shouldn't be one. "Why don't you just, fly away?" she whispered, seeing it roar loudly towards the sky. She tugged her sleeve over the ball of her hand and swiped it across the edge of the drawing, messily erasing the left tail fin from the existence of the drawing.

She closed her book and gazed in silence as the night fury made another attempt to fly over the walls only to land heavily on the ground with a soft growl of disappointment. It's head picked up as its eyes followed the movement of a fish swimming near its head, it crouched low and began creping forward, its footsteps softer than Hicca thought possible for a creature of its size. For a split second its pupils dilated then its head darted forward, sinking into the water at an alarming speed.

Hicca saw it come back up, judging from the mournful wail it gave it had not caught anything and Hicca doubted that he would, dragons caught fish from the sea where they swam in large colonies, always able to catch at least one. In this cove with only a small lake there would be very few fish and Hicca doubted he would be able to catch any fish at all from the small body of water. Hicca was so absorbed in the creature before her that she failed to notice her slack grip on her pencil before it was too late and tumbled down the rocks with several sharp clicks.

Aodh glanced up, his eyes narrowing into slits as he saw the small human girl from before sitting up on the ledge of his prison, the small wooden stick that had made the noise was currently laying at the bottom and the girl was biting her lower lip with her front blunt teeth, how the humans managed to eat anything with those kind of teeth was beyond him, how did they tear apart their prey?. He saw her turning her head, her eyes widening as she caught him looking at her, but they were not wide with fear but wonder.

This fact struck him as yet another odd tendency of hers, he was a fearsome night fury, even the other dragons cringed at the mere mention of him yet here was a weak, defenceless young human who was not scared of him. Her head slowly began to lean sidewards, examining his face and he couldn't help but copy her movements. They stayed like that for several minutes before she broke the contact to glance at the sky. Her mouth widened in what he assumed was horror and she shrieked, hurriedly tucking a small rectangle into her black covering and fled, leaving him still trapped in the cove.

Hicca raced back through the worn path in the forest, her heavy footsteps thudded rhythmically against the dirt track and she stopped to lean against a tree to regain her breath. Her eyes once again darted towards the sunset and she noticed that there was only a tiny sliver left, barely enough to cast a faint glow over the darkness, dinner would have started ages ago. She pushed herself off the tree and kept running, her surroundings so changed from the dense forest to the stocky settings of the houses. The hall was at the top of the hill and Hicca's legs were already beginning to burn from the stress of running all the way from the cove. She gradually slowed to a walk and began the tedious task of climbing the huge stone steps.

The atmosphere in the hall was light and the group of teens sat around one of the tables, not even bothered that one of their number had not been seen since training. "All right, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked, moving forward so he was hovering over the teens. "I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble," Astrid said and Gobber looked surprised that she had judged herself instead of ignoring her faults like most of the Vikings did.

"Yeah, we noticed," Ruffnut drawled, rolling her eyes as she heard what Astrid considered wrong. "No, no, you were great. That was so 'Astrid'" Snotlout rushed to suck up, his small brain making it impossible for him to come up with anything better than 'Astrid' as a compliment. "She's right. You have to be tough on yourselves," Gobber interjected. Hicca hurriedly walked past the group, picking up a plate of meat and a mug, moving to sit by herself on the next tale, away from the group. "Where did Hicca wrong?" Gobber questioned, spotting her as she tried to blend into the background.

"Uh, she showed up," Ruffnut said maliciously, "She didn't get eaten," Tuffnut stated, determined to push aside the feelings of relief he felt about Hicca not being hurt. "She's never where she should be," Astrid hissed, her eyes following Hicca glaringly as the Viking in question pushed her food around uncaringly, she had been tormented by them for years, their comments no longer had any effect on her. "Thank you, Astrid," Gobber breathed, happy that at least one of his newest students had given him a somewhat reasonable answer.

"You need to live and breathe this stuff. The dragon manual." He announced, pulling a book from his vest and shoving the cups and bowls away, placing it on the head of the wooden table near Astrid. "Everything we know about every dragon we know of," he announced, stabbing the cover of the book with a meaty finger. A rumble of thunder sounded heavily in the distance and Gobber heaved a sigh that sounded like a mixture between relieved and annoyed, "No attacks tonight. Study up," he ordered; hurrying to leave the hall and move quickly back to his hut above the forge.

"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut asked incuriously, glancing after the retreating smithies back. "While we're still alive?" Ruffnut agreed, staring at the table amazed. "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout wondered, banging his fist on the table. "Funny. I didn't know you could read Snotlout?" Hicca sneered, turning her head to stare at her cousin in fake amazement, Snotlout's face heated up in embarrassment and the twins collapsed on each other laughing even Astrid stifled a smile beneath her hand.

"Oh, I've read it like seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And, and there's this other one…" Fishlegs rambled excitedly, unaware of the twins and Snotlout's creeped out faces, as if saying 'Are you serious'. "Yeah. That sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read it," Tuffnut cut in, "But now…" Ruffnut trailed off shrugging slightly. Fishlegs face fell and Hicca couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he tried so hard to fit in with the group.

"You guys read. I'll go kill stuff," Snotlout boasted, standing and moving to exit. The twins hurriedly got up and pushed each other back, following Snotlout out of the hall with Fishlegs trailing behind still spouting facts, "Another one has spines like trees," he said, rushing to keep up with the rapidly disappearing group of teens. "Sooo, I guess we'll share," Hicca suggested shyly, moving cautiously towards Astrid, "Read it," she stated bluntly, pushing it towards Hicca and moving speedily after the group.

"Uh, all mine then. Wow. So, ok, I'll see you… tomorrow" she trailed off awkwardly, now talking to an empty hall as the last of the Vikings left. She quickly blew out most of the candles in the hall and kept two, placing them both on the table near the book so she would still have light to read by. "Dragon classifications," she read aloud hoping to break the stifling silence that draped over the hall like a cloak. "Strike class. Fear Class. Mystery Class." She turned the salt encrusted page to the first dragon.

"_Thunderdrum._ This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Class: Tidal. Ability: Sonic Blast. Shot limit: 6. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight" she hummed quietly and turned the page. "_Timberjack._ This gigantic creature has razor-sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Class: Sharp. Ability: Wing slice. Shot limit: 8. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. _Scauldron. _Sprays scalding water at its victims. Class: Tidal. Ability: Boiling Blast. Shot limit: 14. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. AHHH!" she shrieked as a loud crash of thunder resounded through the hall and a flash of lightning lit up the hall, casting shadows across the walls, she shook her head and returned to her reading.

"Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Class: Fear. Ability: Acid spit. Shot limit: 10. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Gronkle. Devours rocks then fires them back at their victims in flaming chunks of lava when provoked. Class: Boulder. Ability: Lava blast. Shot limit: 6. Extremely dangerous kill on sight. Okay I'm starting to see a pattern here." She remarked, noticing that each dragon's page contained the same words.

"Hideous Zippleback. One head creates gas while the other lights it creating an explosion. Class: Fear. Ability: Gas & Spark. Shot limit: 6. The Skrill. The Skrill is known to only come out during storms and is often seen to be covered in bolts of electricity. Class: Strike. Ability: Static Fire bolt. Shot limit 4. Bone Knapper. The Bone Knapper steals the bones of dead dragons and uses them as protective armour. Class: Mystery. Ability: Bone Attack. Shot limit: 6. Whispering Death. One of the most feared dragons the whispering death has many skills, it's only known weakness is its aversion to sunlight. Class: Boulder. Abilities: Rotating teeth, spine shooting, jaw tunnelling, fire ring attack. Shot limit: 2, wow that low?! All extremely dangerous, all to be killed on sight" she stated sarcastically, "Burns it victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victim. Turns its victims inside out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight." Her voice trailed off as she turned to the final page of information in the book, it was nearly empty with no pictures and only a few sentences.

"Night Fury," she mumbled, remembering the black dragon in the cove earlier. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: hide and pray it does not find you" she scanned the page quickly but found no more text of any kind, not even a picture of the dragon. She pulled out her sketchbook she had tucked into her vest earlier and threw it onto the book, open on the drawing of the night fury. How she wished she could just draw it in there, list everything she knew about it but that would only get her and the night fury caught.

She slowly closed the book and tucked her sketchbook back in her vest, moving sluggishly through the paces of blowing out the candles and leaving the hall, she looked overhead and realised that it was now very late and she had better be getting home. She hurried through the village, slightly scared of the silence that made very shadow look like a dragon about to pounce. At the bottom of the stairs she stopped to turn and look back, her eyes scanning the house around her. She saw the outlines of the twins in their beds through the window and Astrid's house was completely dark with no sound coming from it, Gobber's snores could be heard all the way from the smithy and Hicca once again cursed her father's position as chief as she realised she still had to climb the stairs to get to her house on the hill.

Despite her conflicted emotions she still had the ability to contemplate the books words. If this dragon was so feared, held so high in a Viking's book that they would go as far as to hide, why hadn't it attacked her? She had no illusions about herself, she was weak, had no weaponry abilities and no way to defend herself, why would it have let her go when it had her at its mercy? From the moment she was born she was told dragons were evil, they had no thoughts, feelings or personalities, no sense of remorse, compassion or guilt. She finally made it to her house and pushed open the door, running quickly up to her room and shedding her clothes, sliding into her warm bed. Her last thought before sleep claimed her puzzled her well into her dreams: If that was the case then why had this seemingly uncaring monster let her live?

**REVIEWS! PLEASE! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M ON MY KNEES BEGGING! (NO SERIOUSLY, I'M TYPING THIS WHILE ON MY KNEES)**


	4. Chapter 4

**PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR NOT UPDATING BUT I JUST COULDN'T BRING MYSELF TO WRITE, IT WAS LIKE A LARGE WALL WAS PREVENTING ME! ANYWAY I FELT SO HORRIBLE FOR NOT GIVING YOU AN UPDATE THAT I COULDN'T SLEEP SO HERE I AM AT 2:05 IN THE MORNING WRITING THE NEXT CHAPTER! IF ANYTHING COMES OUT OF THIS ENDEVOUR BE IT BAD OR GOOD BLAME IT ON MY SLEEP ADDLED MIND AND FOUR 1.25L BOTTLES OF PEPSI, SPRITE, CREAMING SODA AND FANTA OVER THE SPACE OF A FEW HOURS! ENJOY! R&R! (YES I AM AWARE THAT IS 5L OF SOFTDRINK)**

Hicca woke early the next morning, the sun was only just rising and she knew that she had several more hours before she was expected at dragon training. She bounced out of bed and dressed quickly, slid her dagger into her belt and pulled her long hair back into a tight braid that fell down her back. She smiled happily and ran downstairs and out the door, quickly making her way to the hall. She spotted several early risers who were walking about the village and starting their morning routines. Hicca jogged up the stairs and entered the empty hall, the teens were not known for being morning people and the older Vikings who were up had already had breakfast, leaving her all alone.

She sat down at her usual table in the furthest corner and ate a big breakfast to prepare for training later that day, just as she was leaving the hall she was met with the group of Viking teens who pushed past her rudely in their quest to find breakfast, only Fishlegs even bothered to say good morning and she smiled sweetly at him before moving back down the stairs and over to the forge. Hicca entered her personal workshop in the back of the forge and began working on a new prosthetic for Gobber, he had commented offhandedly a few weeks ago that he missed fishing and she had begun to steadily work on a prosthetic invention that would allow him to hold the rod in his missing hand.

Hours later she could hear the Viking teenagers moving noisily through the village in a pack, the metallic ringing coming from their direction hinted at the fact that they were going to training. She quickly checked the position of the sun and visibly balked as she realised that she had been working on the prosthetic for hours. Hicca gently set it down on the workbench and stripped off her work apron, wiping her hand over her forehead to dispel the sweat that had formed due to the hot fires of the forge.

She sighed and picked up the axe her father had given her, placing it over her shoulder and leaving the forge behind the group, trying her hardest not to be seen. She had been having such a good day so far and it would be a shame to change that with the group's teasing. Fishlegs turned to wave at her subtly, knowing that his friend wouldn't want the others to see her. The bulky boy was really her only friend in the entire village other than Gobber and Gobber was more of a father than a friend, he had been more of a father to her than her real one had ever been but she suspected it had something to do with the smithy being named her godfather by Valhalarama when she was born.

Sooner than she had hoped Hicca was once again in the ring, the other teens were standing a little way away from her in a group, Fishlegs detached from them and jogged over to her when she entered; sticking by her so the others would hopefully leave her alone. Her eyes scanned the makeshift maze that Gobber had created out of huge wooden panels, it didn't look that difficult to navigate but Hicca doubted that all they had to do was make it from one side to the other, she was certain that Gobber would never allow something to be that easy.

"What dragon do you reckon we're going to fight today?" Fishlegs asked quietly, trusting her inner knowledge of the way Gobber worked. "Well the nightmare is for the best in training so not him today, we've already had the Gronkle so Gobber would most likely try and kill us with something different now we know how to defeat that type of dragon. I think he would want to save the harder dragon for later so that rules out the Zippleback and I heard him singing when he got up this morning which means he is very happy and will probably want to see someone get hurt and bleed today, so I'm guessing not the Terrible Terror. That only leaves the Deadly Nadder, tell me oh dear friend… how good are you with large sharp spines?" she teased, pausing dramatically at the end and breaking into giggles at the horrified look on his face.

Hicca was completely unaware that the other trainees had stopped to listen to her as she ranted, missing the dark look of jealousy that the male Thorsten twin shot at her beefy friend as he laughed loudly over her descriptions, only for him to pale as she determined the dragon they were facing today. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he heard Hicca's chiming laugh, it falling when she buried her face in Fishlegs shoulder, her face pressed into her arm as she continued cackling madly. "Oi lass! Thank ye very much for ruinin' the surprise! I wanted to see their faces when I told 'em which one was goin' to be trying to kill 'em today!" Gobber thundered as he entered, sending a fake mad look in her direction.

This sent the young girl into another wave of crazy laughter; her giggles were becoming slightly hysterical and all of the trainees were looking at her strangely, "And stop laughin' like that lass, people are gonna think you're mad," Gobber scolded, she had by this point completely collapsed against her friend and her shoulders shook with the effort of supressing the chuckles of amusement that wound their way through her chest. "Okay, okay," she hiccupped, wiping her eyes with her forearm and shifted her axe to the other shoulder, "Please continue telling us how you plan to kill us today," she gestured with her free hand to the group of teens and put up an incredible poker face, not a sign of emotion crossing her face.

Gobber stared her down but she just grinned happily and tilted her head innocently, bringing her shoulders up in a small shrug as if to say _'who me?' _Gobber shook his head but Hicca could see a small smile threatening to break and grinned victoriously, raising her axe slightly in the air, letting it drop as Gobber hefted a shield into her arms and threw them at several others, leaving the rest to grab their own from the small selection. "Alright, let's get started," Gobber called, moving swiftly through the maze and across the ring and jerking down a lever to one of the cages, once again letting the dragon loose on them without any beforehand knowledge.

Gobber grabbed the edge of the ring and hoisted himself out, slipping carefully through the iron bars so he could observe them as they struggled to survive. Hicca ignored the looming threat of the dragon as it made its way around the ring, choosing instead to stand in the centre so she had a clear view of Gobber. "Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?" she asked, letting her shield hang casually by her side. The only warning she got for the incoming fireball was a steady swoosh as it thudded into the wall next to Hicca's head, embedding the burning embers into the thick wood.

"Yah!" she cried, ducking instinctually away from the heat with a startled yelp, "Whoa," she said, Gobber's shout drowning her out, "Focus, Hicca! You're not even trying!" Gobber yelled and Hicca had to admire his skill, he managed to sound exasperated, angry and pleading all in the same sentence. The Deadly Nadder hoped over one of the panels and Hicca shrieked as it bore down on her, its mouth open wide and its rows of pointy teeth glistening like freshly sharpened blades. Her feet thrummed back and forth quickly, her mind trying to figure out which side would be easier to navigate but with only seconds to spare she darted off to the right, her shield weighing her down as she ran.

It was not well known on Berk but Hicca was one of the fastest and most agile people on the island, years of running away from bullies and childhood tormentors had helped build up her stamina and strengthen her leg muscles. However the heavy shield strapped to her arm made it vastly difficult for her to navigate her way through the maze with the uneven weight making it hard to balance around the corners. "Today, it's all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet! Your job is to be quicker and lighter!" Gobber instructed, missing the incurious look Fishlegs sent in his direction as the spines of the Nadder thudded into his shield as he ran through the maze, his big bulk making this lesson a lot harder for him.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" he yelled, his shield hitting a wall and sending him spinning as he looked over his shoulder for the Nadder, that had been pursuing him moments before from its place above them on the top of the panels. "Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it and strike!" Gobber advised, watching with an almost bored expression as Hicca darted past the twins, the two running almost in sync as only twins could. They both jerked to a stop as they came face to face with the Nadder, its head moving forward till they were almost touching, the twins having found its blind spot first.

Its nostrils flared as it tried to locate the owner of the scent that was so close but it couldn't see, Tuffnut instinctively pulled back and crushed himself against his sister as he watched the Nadder with a terrified expression. Ruffnut cringed disgusted as she tried to avoid large movements and risk moving out of the blind spot. "Oh. Do you ever bathe?" she hissed, her voice coloured with nausea, the two twins moved side to side as the Nadder swung its head, somehow remaining hidden in its blind spot. "If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot," he growled, pushing her roughly only for her to come barrelling back and shove her shield into his ribs, causing him to groan quietly in pain and her to smirk happily.

The two twins turned to each other angrily, forgetting about the deadly dragon right in front of them, "How about I give you one?" Ruffnut responded, butting her helmet covered head against her brothers heavily, a heavy snarl from beside them turned their attention back to the Nadder, their fighting had moved them out of its blind spot and they were now fully visible to the angry dragon. Ruffnut screeched in panic as a deep scratching sound hummed from the Nadder, the indication that it was about to fire on the teens. Tuffnut reacted quickly, grabbing his sister by the elbow and pulling her to the side just as the burning flame erupted from the Nadder, scorching the panel they had originally been standing in front of.

"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much," Gobber intoned moving his head in a gesture of admittance, chuckling as three of the teens darted past beneath him. He had barely even moved from his spot when the twins were about to become a barbecue plater for the hungry dragon, much different from the frantic motions he had made the day before when Hicca was in danger. Hicca saw that the Nadder was far enough away not to be a threat and broke away from the group, skidding to a halt back in front of Gobber and craned her neck back so she could see Gobber.

"Hey, so, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" she asked, trying to act casual, "No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now get in there!" Gobber ordered loudly, thrusting his real hand towards the dragon that was moving swiftly across the arena in search of prey. "I know, I know, but hypothetically…" she began, slowly backing up so she could still ask her questions but was cut off by Astrid who was crouched behind the corner with Snotlout cowering behind her, "Hicca! Get down!" she hissed, peeking around the corner only to duck back as the Nadder crept around the one in front.

Its jerky movements reminded Astrid of a bird of prey she once saw, its sharp beak like mouth, beady eyes and thin body completed the image, she admitted to herself that even though she was born to hate it she couldn't help but notice how magnificent it really was. She carefully timed the exact moment when they would be in its blind spot then counted down, quickly pushing off and tumbled forward into a roll, using her shield to gain speed and move to the other panels. Much to her displeasure Snotlout managed the same manoeuvre and appeared next to her, the two turned back just in time to see Hicca attempt to copy them only for the weight of the shield to drag her back by the arm strap as it refused to move with her.

The Nadder heard the sharp clang and heavy breathing, tipping its head to the side so Hicca was out of its blind spot and in full view, it darted forward, snapping dangerously close to where Hicca was once standing as she shrieked and jumped aside. She quickly heaved herself to her feet and darted down the maze, trying desperately to avoid the Nadder that flapped its wings strongly and landed heavily on top of the panels, balancing precariously on the edge before dropping down, cutting off the alley that Astrid and Snotlout were about to run down. The Nadder sped forwards and Astrid crouched, bringing up her axe as she readied to face it. Snotlout sneered and pushed her aside with his shield, ignoring her cry of ignition as he pulled back his mace arm and leant back, "Watch out, babe. I'll take care of this," he preened, throwing his mace towards the dragon.

It flew straight into the panel, connecting with a muffled thump before falling to the ground, completely missing the dragon which made a funny sound in the back of its throat, a cross between a hiss and a cough as it turned back to face the two Vikings. "The sun was in my eyes Astrid," Snotlout moaned, slumping as he turned to face the blond teen as she spun on her heel and fled from the Nadder. He gave a startled yelp as it shot a blast of fire towards him, moving at the last second so it stuck the wall, Snotlout was still whining as he tailed Astrid. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun?" he cried, "I could do that but I don't have the time," he boasted, almost forgetting about the angry dragon as it chased them through the alley. Astrid continued on her forward path but Snotlout sensing it was growing closer slunk into the closest exit from the wooden alley.

Astrid skidded around the corner, the shield that was dragged across the floor with her threw up sparks as she passed Hicca, the Nadder barely even noticed the small teen and continued chasing Astrid, knocking over the panels and destroying Gobber's maze as the blond Viking darted through the alleys to avoid the snarling dragon. Hicca had once again stopped to talk to Gobber, hoping for the meaty Viking to be able to tell him anything about Night Furies, "Has anyone ever seen one napping?' she asked desperately, barely even noticing as she was buffeted from side to side by the Viking teens as they ran past in a panic, several of their shields making contact with her arms and back in their haste to get away.

"Hicca," Gobber shouted, making Hicca turn and watch in dismay as the maze fell apart in front of her. Astrid ran up one of the falling panels, the steep incline making it easier unfortunately for both her and the dragon to climb. She reached the top and made a desperate leap to the next, balancing unevenly on the top as it fell, "Hicca!" she shrieked as a warning to the other girl to get out of the way, unable to stop Astrid's descent Hicca cringed and prepared to do the next best thing to insure the Viking girl's safety, break her fall.

A cloud of dust rose from the arena floor as the last of the panels hit the ground, stirring up a years' worth of dust and dirt, as the cloud slowly drifted away the other Viking teens could make out two distinct people shapes on the floor. Astrid had gotten tangled up with Hicca as they both fell, Astrid's axe becoming embedded in Hicca's shield as the smaller girl broke her fall. "Ohhhh, love on the battlefield," Tuffnut sung as Astrid attempted to free her axe from Hicca's shield, their legs still rapped together, no one noticed the tiny hint of jealousy in Tuffnut's voice as he called out from his place beside his sister.

"She could do better," Ruffnut agreed, stage whispering so everyone could hear, her blue eyes were trained solely on the golden haired Viking however, a spark of possession flaring within her eyes. "Let me… Why don't you…?" Hicca's voice trailed off as Astrid finally managed to untangle their legs, shoving Hicca to the ground by her vest in the process. A loud crash alerted the Viking teens to the Deadly Nadder's presence, bird like dragon having finally freed itself from the ruins of what used to be the maze. Astrid gasped and looked about for her axe only to realise that it was still embedded in Hicca's shield.

She placed her boot onto the surface of Hicca's shield and tugged sharply on the handle of her axe, ignoring Hicca's cries of pain as the strap dug firmly into her arm and the shields metal bearings scraped roughly across her forearm. Astrid changed her tactics as she realised that the axe was stuck too deep into the shield to be extracted, she stood painfully on Hicca's face and pulled backwards on the axe, ripping both shield and axe from the young girl and swung it back, slamming it heavily against the approaching dragon's face and knocking the great beast to the side with a startled groan of pain as most of the shield shattered on impact.

The Nadder quickly scampered away, making sure to keep a fearful eye on Astrid as she held the broken remains of the shield still attached to the axe in front of her like a club, "Well done, Astrid," Gobber called as he lead the Deadly Nadder back into its cage. She was panting heavily as the rush of adrenaline faded and turned angrily to Hicca with her axe hanging loosely by her side, unaware of the village elder watching from the sidelines. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?" Astrid asked, waving her axe in the air in frustration. Hicca finally uncurled from her place on the floor, staring up at Astrid with wide eyes.

The arm her shield was attached to was cradled close to her body as she tried to stop the throbbing, a faint line of red had appeared on her shirt and she tried desperately to stop it as she stared up at Astrid with a mixture of surprise and resentment in her eyes that finally faded to acceptance. "Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on," she deadpanned, pointing her axe towards Hicca's neck before turning and leaving the ring, the group of teens following after her.

Hicca grimaced and peeled her hand away from her arm, pulling her long sleeve up to her elbow with a wince. She checked her arm and winced again, dropping her sleeve back over the cut and moving quickly out of the arena, unaware of the elder watching her. Minutes later she was alone in the villages healing hut, the healer had been taken with the voyagers to help them if anyone was injured while at sea, leaving the hut empty. Hicca dragged out a small roll of bandages and a salve that stopped bleeding, she grabbed her dagger from her belt and cut away the sleeve below her elbow, it was covered with blood and she wouldn't be able to wear it anymore without someone asking how it happened, no matter how rude or violent Astrid was Hicca did not wish to get her in trouble.

She glanced at the cut and promptly changed her view to that of a healer, poking and prodding at it to see how bad it actually was. A few moments later she pulled back her hand and sighed regretfully, reaching for the salve and uncapping it one-handily with a practised ease, using two fingers to smear the cream into the cut. The top of the shield had managed to catch the hem of her sleeve and jerk it up while the metal on the strap cut into her skin, forming a 1cmm deep scratch that went from her wrist to mid-way between her elbow and hand. It wasn't very bad and Hicca thanked the gods that it while quite long and deep it hadn't been too wide and split open her arm.

A quick coating of salve and bandages later that could easily be covered up with her shirt Hicca was done; she speedily placed away the box of supplies and left the healers hut, bumping into the other trainees as she made her way back to her house and from there, into the woods. "You know Astrid, you were kind of hard on Hicca," Fishlegs said nervously, twisting his hands together as he watched one of his oldest friends walk away from them, her shoulders slumped. "What do you mean Fishlegs, first she didn't move, then she got me stuck on the ground, then she nearly stopped me from beating the Nadder. How exactly was I too hard?" Astrid asked sarcastically, expecting the beefy boy to back down like he usually did.

"Well firstly the only reason she didn't move was to protect you, she had a chance to get out of the way but she stayed and broke your fall because otherwise you could have landed on the hard stone floor and possibly been gravelly injured, Hicca is by far the nicest Viking on this island and you only belittle her because of it" Fishlegs began, sticking his hands on his hips and facing Astrid defiantly as the blond Viking stared at him in shock. "Secondly it was your fault as well you got stuck, you landed in such a way that your axe got wedged into her shield, maybe if you had tried to free yourself before your beloved axe you wouldn't have had a problem," he sniped, holding up a hand to stop Astrid as she tried to continue.

"And lastly she didn't stop you from beating the Nadder if you had looked around you would have realised that there were more things you could have used to stop the Nadder, things that probably would have been more useful than an axe in the first place. And if you hadn't noticed by trying to free your axe you were hurting Hicca but afterwards she didn't say anything, instead you felt you had the right to be angry and went off your head screaming at her, in case you hadn't noticed Astrid let me spell it out for you. Hicca didn't do anything wrong, you did, but of course it couldn't be perfect Astrid's fault so you had to blame someone else. You know for someone so smart you can be pretty dumb at times Astrid, maybe you should start thinking before you act," Fishlegs finished acidly, turning and stalking away from the group of teens who were gaping after him, surprised that the softest and nicest member of their group had just said something like that.

Astrid growled under her breathe and pushed past the group, stomping back to her hut as she contemplated what Fishlegs had said, why would Hicca stay and get hurt to save her instead of moving and letting Astrid fall? Astrid had never exactly been nice to Hicca; in fact she had been downright horrible to the smaller girl for basically her entire life.

*********************************LINE BREAK*********************************

Hicca stumbled across a loose rock and cursed, readjusting the shield on her arm. She had stolen it from the forge when Gobber wasn't looking and hurried into the forest before any of the villagers could spot her with a shield out of training. Her hand slipped to the pouch at her waist and withdrew a medium fish she had taken from the stores, holding it carefully in front of her. The cove entrance came into sight and she readied her shield in front of her, shuffling forward into the narrow tunnel that lead to the mini section of paradise. She came to the very end before it opened up and stopped, lowering her shield so she could see over the top of it into the cove.

She lifted her hand with the fish and turned her shield to the side so she could get a clear shot. With a muffled grunt she tossed the fish forward into the open and cowered back behind her shield, watching attentively as it landed with a thump on the grassy floor. She poked her head around the boulder and glanced from side to side as the fish remained stationary, no dragon coming to claim it. Deciding she had already come too far to turn back she moved forward, holding her shield in front of her as protection.

Hicca had barely made it two steps before her shield became wedged in-between the two boulders, the grey rocks holding it tightly in their embrace. She gave it a few tugs only for it to remain steadfast in its place, she huffed annoyed and unlatched her arm, ducking under the shield to appear on the other side in the cove. She gave one last half-hearted tug and turned away, sighing under her breath. She moved towards the fish that still lay on the ground, picking it up by its gills she took several steps into the cove, her eyes scanning the wide expanse as she moved forward cautiously.

Aodh sat on his perch, a large rock balanced on another; his eyes followed the human female as she moved forward slowly. The delectable smelling fish in her hands did nothing to deter his concentration as he crouched back, turning slowly as the human moved further into the area he called home, or prison both seemed to work for his situation. He saw her tense as he moved to quickly and he hissed quietly so her human hearing couldn't detect it as she rotated slowly on the spot to face him, he began to slowly make his way down the rock, never breaking the intense staring contest between him and the strange female.

He was a Night Fury, most feared of all dragons after the nest queen and no one, dragon or other, had ever dared stand up to him, nor look him in the eye. Yet here was a frail human female who looked like she could barely even give him a scratch walking into his current home without even a shield for protection. He spread out his wings to look bigger and stalked menacingly towards her, eyeing the fish she held in her delicate hands. He sniffed the air and caught the lingering scent of metal on her, she had brought a weapon! He growled deep in his throat and crouched down so his head was nearly on the ground and the small human stiffened, hesitantly holding out the fish.

The scent of fresh fish permitted his nostrils and addled his brain, his sub-conscious forcing him to take several steps forward and open his mouth before the mist cleared over his mind, reminding his of the deadly steel concealed on her person. He made a suspicious grumble in the back of his throat and backed up; startling her so she drew back the fish against her chest and her hand went to her belt. His eyes widened and he prepared for her to attack, a small bit of him would feel guilty for killing her but he pushed it away and focused on the fact that it would be defence.

She bared the small knife and glanced at him, he let out of a puff of anger and shuffled backwards, keeping a steady eye on her hand near the dagger, her fingers clasped around the handle and he growled, drawing back in preparation to pounce but her hand retreated and her small face twisted into a weird expression before she took several small breathes, her eyes widening in understanding. She pulled it from her leather wrap and held it at arm's length, dropping it quickly to the ground, Aodh was slightly less wary but also highly intrigued. It was a well-known fact among dragons that Vikings did not give up their weapons for anything, before several raids when he scouted ahead he had even seen some sleeping with their weapons on their person.

He jerked his head stiffly to the side and the toe of Hicca's boot shifted under the knife, tossing it easily to the side and into the water; she saw almost at once a change envelope the dragon as the threat disappeared in a place where it would not be easily accessible. He shifted back onto his haunches and his eyes widened, his ears laid back and she could see his face resembled that of a begging puppy. She inwardly smiled but managed a small grin on the outside, holding out her hand to offer him the fish, he looked suspicious for a moment but then moved slowly forward till his mouth was a foot away from the fish, wide in anticipation.

Hicca could see the pinks gums and cocked her head quizzically to the side, "Toothless," she muttered, staring at its open mouth with the fish still offered forward, "I could have sworn you had…" her voice was cut off in fear as razor sharp teeth filled his mouth, moments later the fish was snatched from her hand and he darted back a few steps, happily munching on his treat. "…teeth," she finished, holding her hand close to her body and marvelling that he had managed to take a fish from her hands without even getting scratched.

He licked his lips happily before his head snapped in her direction, his pupils dilating as he went from sitting to crouching in moments and began stalking towards her, nosing her vest and belt where the scent of the fish lingered. Her basic instincts kicked in and she stumbled backwards, lifting her arms in the air as he moved faster and faster towards her, causing her to stumble and trip over her own feet, landing heavily on the ground. Even after she had fallen she still moved backwards, scuttling on her hands and feet before she was backed against a rock, "No, no, no. I…" her voice trailed off as she turned her head, narrowly avoiding colliding with his that was only a foot away.

"I don't have anymore," she pleaded desperately for the Night Fury to understand, its glowing green eyes drew closer and closer to her own. A weird chuffing sound burst from his throat, his slitted pupils rolling back in his head and his stomach rolled, making fierce growling noises. With a final retching sound the night furies mouth opened and half of the previously eaten fish appeared in Hicca's lap, "Uh," she groaned, slowly siting up as the night fury backed away, he snorted through his nose and sat back, his wings folded carefully behind his back. Hicca stared at him in amazement, moving the fish from her lap into her hands and pushing with her feet, propping herself further up the rock.

Hicca broke the awkward stare with the dragon to allow her eyes to scan the cove before returning the gaze of the fearsome night fury, he was still perched on his back legs and his eyes were focused intensely on her face. She gave a small smile out of discomfort and he looked sharply between her and the fish a few times, the meaning obvious even though he couldn't speak. She sighed and slowly lifted the fish to her mouth, taking a small bite out of the side then nearly throwing it back up, "Mmmm," she groaned through a mouth full of fish, turning her gaze back to the Night Fury's.

She made a muffled sound of affirmation around the fish and held it out to him, squeezing her eyes shut at the putrid taste, the Night Fury mimed swallowing and Hicca dropped her arms, casting her eyes skyward in annoyance before finally giving in. She couldn't allow the disgusting taste to linger in her mouth any longer as she swallowed heavily, feeling the slimy mixture of dragon spit and fish slide down her throat she nearly threw up, holding it in with her clenched fist against her mouth, her face turning a murky green before it slowly faded.

She sighed in relief and shook her head receiving a stifled sneezing sound from the dragon that licked his lips and continued to stare at her. Hicca saw that he was trying to ask if she enjoyed it and she smiled toothily at him, hopping to show that she had enjoyed his gift. He looked at her puzzled for a few seconds before he slowly began to mimic her pulling his lips back in an adorable gummy smile. She clambered to a crouching position and cautiously extended her hand towards the dragon that growled and bared his teeth, his ears laid flat against his head and his pupils changed into slits.

He darted to the side and flapped clumsily across the cove, landing awkwardly behind some rocks, blowing a stream of fire at the ground he turned quickly and created a large burnt patch that exuded warmth, collapsing sleepily in a heap on the hot embers. A bird trilling from its nest caught his attention and he watched with wistful eyes as it took off into the air only to come face to face with Hicca who had moved stealthily across the cove to sit a few feet away, she lifted a hand and he snorted, turning his head back and laying it neatly on his front legs. He noisily moved his back legs, covering his body with his wings and swung his tail around to cover his face from view.

Hicca waited till he had stopped moving them scooted closer, reaching out a slim hand to touch his tail, it was inches away when the night fury whipped back his tail, glaring fiercely into her emerald eyes, making her swing around and walk awkwardly away in the opposite direction to which he ambled off. She walked only a few feet before she stopped, sitting down against a mossy rock that was as soft as her bed and slowly drifting into a deep sleep.

She woke hours later as the sun was going down and glanced around the clearing, spotting the night fury hanging from a tree branch by its tail, with its wings wrapped around itself it looked like a giant bat. She pictured his face in her mind and absentmindedly picked up a stick, scratching out lines and shapes in the dirt that gradually began to look like the night fury sleeping across the cove.

Aodh uncovered his wings from his eyes, warbling quietly as his eyes scanned the cove, spotting the Viking girl sitting across the clearing. Her back was to him and Aodh approved of this display of trust, in the world of dragons turning ones back on another was a move that showed you trusted them not to attack you when your back was turned. She sat forlornly a small stick clutched in her hand, her small face resting in her unoccupied even smaller hand. He gently set himself down off the branch, uncurling his tail from around its sturdy grip.

He darted across the clearing silently, years of tracking and capturing prey had taught him to be light on his feet, even with his size. He appeared on the right side of the girl, gazing down at the drawing with interest, it showed a remarkable likeness to himself and he followed the movements she was making with the stick intently, his head moving all around in an effort to keep up, it looked like fun! He saw that she was putting the final touches on the image and moved quickly away, picking a small tree clinging to the edge of the cove as his target.

He clenched it between his strong jaws and heaved, the tree crumbling from the edge with a harsh ripping sound and a shower of dust. He moved back towards the girl and tilted his head to the side, pressing the roots of the tree into the dirt and dragged strongly, digging a small trench in the ground as he twirled and leap, continuously making the drawing bigger and bigger with each movement. At one point he slowed mid stride to whack the girl on the head as if to say 'look at me, I'm drawing just like you,' then continued on. He suddenly drew to a halt, tossing his tree to the side and admiring his drawing, it looked beautiful!

Aodh glanced up to see the girl looking around in wonder at his marvellous creation before striding forward to get a closer look, stepping directly on one of the lines of his drawing. He hunched down and bared his teeth, growling wickedly as he flattened his ears against his head. She jerked back startled and looked at him sheepishly before a look dawned in her eyes, she slowly lifted her foot and warbled happily, reverting back as she once again stepped on his drawing. She did it once more, eliciting the same reaction before she stepped over it, correcting her mistake and grinning happily at him, slowly tracing her way out of his drawing.

This time she made sure not to step on any lines and mess it up with he was thankful for, twisting twirling and leaping her way out of his intricately designed drawing. Her small arms were spread wide to keep her balance, like he did with his wings when he was flying yet he was slightly surprised to see her do this while on solid ground. She came closer and closer to the spot where he was yet he did not feel himself panicked or suspicious, instead he found himself not minding how close she was to him.

Hicca stopped suddenly as she felt a warming heat and gust of air from above her, she cringed and glanced up, realising that her game of avoiding the lines of the drawing had taken her across the cove and straight into the dragon. The night fury gazed down at her and she found herself lowering her arm that she had raised to defend herself on instinct. Instead she slowly reached out with the same hand, the night fury shied away, snorting in suspicion, he growled as her hand got closer and she withdrew it, understanding dawning in her eyes.

She turned her head and began reaching out again, this time not looking for fear of being rejected. She could feel the heat radiating off his scales and summarised that it must be from his inner fire, Aodh's eyes widened as her hand drew closer before halting in mid-air, he saw that she was too scared to move it any further forward and closed the distance, pushing his head into her head as his eyes slid closed.

Almost instantly he realised what he had done and snorted, eyeing her hand with distaste before darting off, moving quickly across the cove. This time Hicca didn't bother to follow him, the sun was going down and Gobber wanted them at the tower of honour after sundown for dinner and to regal them of stories of his time in dragon raids. She glanced at her hand, convinced she could still feel the fiery warmth of the dragon, and though she hated to admit it even to herself, the dragons touch had brought her comfort, more comfort than she had felt in a while.

Hicca shook her head to rid herself of her daydream and darted out of the cove, glancing back at the last second to see the night fury curled up on the other side of the cove, his piercing eyes staring at her as if he were looking right through her and into her soul. She shuddered at the eerie feeling and kept running, making it back to the edge of the forest in record time, the sun was barely even touching the horizon yet and she sighed in relief, she still had enough time to get the scent of sweat off her from training earlier and the run she just completed.

Hicca snuck through the village, hoping that no one had seen her enter the village from the forest; if they told her father she was in the woods this late he would be raving mad. She was almost at her house when she heard voices from a dark alley nearby and a hand shot out, several more following its lead. She was grabbed roughly around the arms and waist, another hand placed over her mouth prevented her from crying out and she was dragged kicking and screaming into the shadows.

**OOOOOH CLIFFHANGER! DON'T WORRY I'LL UPDATE AS SOON AS I CAN! I LOVE ALL OF YOU! AND TO MY FIRST EVER REVIEWERS ON THIS STORY snowowl94, asia2000lover, , C4, RedOptics7 I GIVE A HUGE THANKYOU, YOU GUYS ARE THE GREATEST!**


	5. Chapter 5

**OKAY HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER AND I JUST WANTED TO ISSUE A WARNING! YES AT THE MOMENT THIS FOLLOWS THE STORY LINE AS I HAVE THE DVD WITH SUBTITLES AND HAVE GOTTEN THE SCRIPT ONLINE BUT LATER IT WILL BE COMPLETELY AU OKAY! JUST A FRIENDLY HEADS UP TO THOSE WHO ARE ONLY READING THIS BECAUSE THEY THINK IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON BUT WITH FEMALE!HICCUP! ALSO THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS, I'LL TRY TO UPDATE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE WHILE STILL TRYING TO FINSIH MY OTHER STORY! LOVE YOU ALL! 3. Plus to my reviewer snowowl94 I found it by researching names that could fit a dragon and found that it means 'fire' in old Irish it just seemed to fit Toothless' character perfectly**

Hicca felt her back being slammed into the wall of the small alley and a sharp pain shot up her spine, temporarily winding her. The hand over her mouth loosed but the grips of her arms tightened, she was sure there would be bruises. "Hello useless, long time no beating," a taunting voice called and she glanced up into the cold blue eyes of Bones, a burly dark haired girl who had graduated from dragon training the year before and along with her gang was the most… vicious of Hicca's childhood tormentors. "We heard about your failure in the ring today, did the big brave Astrid have to save you. You're pathetic, the future leader of this tribe, this village. You don't deserve to have a father as great as Stoic, you don't deserve the chance to be in dragon training just to screw up and you definitely don't deserve to live" Bones hissed, her cronies smiling maliciously beside her.

Hicca identified the two holding her as Blade and Striker, the male brothers of the Seafront family. Slice and Fang, the two girls who followed Bones everywhere were flanking her, the completely opposite girls' fighting with each other was often compared to that of the Thorsten twins though they did not share blood. Bones curled her right hand into a fist and drew it back, placing all of her strength behind the punch she let it fly, Hicca muffled a shriek as she felt her left ribs bend under the pressure but not break, the brutal girl continued targeting that side till she suddenly switched, bringing her massive fists down on the right side of Hicca's chest, drawing pained grunts from the girl as she refused to give them the satisfaction of screaming.

Two hard blows to her face brought her to her knees and she saw Fang stepping back, shaking the hand that had just connected with the bones around her right eye and left cheek, Bones stopped for a second to inspect the damage. "Idiot!" she shrieked at Fang, rounding on the quivering girl with a scowl. "That is going to leave bruises in plain view, you know how overprotective her father and Gobber are, how do you think we're going to hide that?" she asked, Fang grimaced and shook her head in thought.

"Sorry but who said they have to know she was hit, she could have… I don't know, fallen and hit her face on a rock, the gods know she is clumsy enough for that to happen," Fangs voice lightened as she thought of a reasonable excuse, Bones smirked and turned to Hicca with a frightening smile, her eyes lighting up in recognition, "You hear that useless, you fell. You understand you were going for a walk in the forest and fell down a ditch; you hit your face on the rock. No one did that to you and if I hear you saying anything different next time I won't go so easy on you," she hissed, pulling the smaller girl from the brothers' arms and held her roughly by the neck, making sure not to increase the pressure enough to create a hand print.

Hicca nodded weakly and Bones smirked, loosening her hold and letting Hicca drop to the ground, leaving the alley with her cronies as the injured girl collapsed in a heap on the ground, her legs refusing to hold her weight. She saw that the sun only had a while to go before it set and groaned, pushing herself up off the hard dirt, her hands shaking as the weight settled onto her bruised ribs making them cry out in agony. She began the long and painful path to her hut, knowing that she had an emergency kit for situations such as these under her bed.

She didn't meet anyone on her way, most of the Vikings were off searching for the nest and the older ones that weren't were probably in the food hall as dinner would be being served early like it was every day the village went searching. The other teenagers were most likely already at the tower waiting for Gobber; they wouldn't even care if she was late. They barely even noticed she was there most days, unless she messed up of course that was really the only time they paid any attention to her. Hicca finally managed to drag herself up the steps to her house and pushed weakly against the door, almost falling inward as she stumbled across the interior.

She groaned loudly as she slowly made her way up to her room, each step on the stairs making her ribs throb in pain. As soon as she entered her room she collapsed, landing heavily on the bed with a short cry, her hand darted down beneath her bed and she retrieved the medical kit. Pulling her aching body up against the headboard she opened it, grabbing some salve for her ribs, bandages, and cream for the bruises on her face. Finally gathering her courage she stepped off the bed, moving sluggishly across the room to gaze in her mirror, her eyes widening in surprise as she removed her shirt and wrappings to inspect her ribs.

Her left cheek and the side of her right eye were both sporting large purple and yellow bruises, there were two large hand shaped marks on her biceps and both sides of her ribs were dotted with huge bruises in colours of angry reds, purple, yellows and even some black, she grimaced and grabbed the salve, smearing it gently across her chest before binding it with bandages and pulling her shirt back on, she noted with distaste that even though the bandages were tight they did nothing to pull in her chest and her chest was pushed against her shirt in all its glory. Before she capped the salve she rolled up her sleeves and covered the hand prints there in it, hoping that it would help them as well.

Finally she moved to the bruises on her face and cursed under her breathe, normally whenever Bones and her gang of thugs got to her the bruises were never in plain sight and she could easily cover them up then go about her life as if they never happened, albeit she would still be in pain but no one had to know that. These bruises would be on her face for at least a few days and she knew that there was nothing she could do to cover them up from the other teens and older Vikings. Hicca scowled and grabbed the cream, gently coating each bruise in the clear sticky paste, smearing it generously against each bruise and sighing in relief as the cold cream helped to ebb away the blistering pain.

Realising that they would still be in plain sight she began brainstorming ideas on how to cover them, a bandage was just so obvious and would get her immediately caught, masks were only used for festivals and she had no makeup to cover it up with as only the older Vikings in the village wore that and only for special events like weddings and parties. She scowled as she came to the only logical conclusion; she reached back a shaking hand and slid out the ties that bound her hair back, tugging them out gently so her hair fell from its usual stiff plait that stopped just below her shoulders.

Without the restraints her hair was back to its usual curly glory hanging in curls and ringlets down to her waist, she pulled several of the long strands forward so they draped over her face, hiding the multi-coloured bruises from sight. "Yay, the two things I try to hide for most of life are about to come to light all because of stupid Bones and her thugs," she muttered sarcastically, twirling a red lock between her fingers and grimacing at the mirror, trying desperately to suck in her chest before giving up.

She groaned and checked how she looked in the mirror one last time before hissing and turning to leave, rearranging her hair so it looked more natural but still covered her bruises. She shuffled awkwardly through the town to the base of the tower, being extra careful not to jolt her ribs and send the now familiar sparks of pain up her sides. She could see that the bonfire had already been lit and there were shadows clustered around it, forming a tight knit circle, one shadow was large than the others and Hicca had no problem believing this was Gobber.

Tuffnut glanced around the fire before his eyes darted towards the stairs, his eyes not betraying the growing concern he felt inside when he couldn't see the red haired girl on the tower. He caught his sisters knowing look out of the corner of his eye and averted his eyes back to the fire, uncomfortably aware of just how suspicious that looked. He could tell his sister thought so to as she grinned triumphantly and turned back to the front, her eyes following the movements Astrid was making across the fire with a dreamy look on her face.

Tuffnut jumped startled and whipped his head around to look over his shoulder when Astrid stilled, her eyes going wide as they focused on a point past his head. He felt his eyes widen as well but couldn't look away, it was Hicca but unlike anytime he had ever seen her. Her hair wasn't in its usual plait it hung to just below her waist in waves and ringlets the colour of fire, strands of gold seemed to be woven into her hair as the light from the fire caught her head on an angle and she was covered in a warm glow like a halo. That wasn't all, her ahem… womanly assets were much larger than he had ever seen them and strained against the now too small top.

Hicca looked up from her embarrassed gazing at her feet, her eyes locking with a pair he colour of molten silver before she glanced back at her feet. The climb up the stairs of the tower had nearly killed her and she could swear she could actually hear her ribs as they strained to break her chest from the inside out. She saw that all of the boys on the tower were staring at her chest and she blushed, moving as quickly as she dared with her ribs over to sit by Fishlegs only to be intercepted by Gobber, she sighed and moved towards him as he beckoned her towards the side of the tower away from the other teens.

She had hoped that Gobber would just let it be, he knew about Bones but not how bad it got, he only thought they went as far as teasing her. No matter how much they hurt her she didn't want the same to happen to them and she was certain if Gobber got mad enough and found them there would be hell to pay. But of course he had instantly known something was up, he would have to have been stupid not to know, Hicca wouldn't have let her hair down if it wasn't important, she had kept her hair hidden for way to long for her to suddenly unveil it for no good reason.

Astrid and the other teens watched fascinated as the smallest of their group sighed wearily and plodded over to the blacksmith, her recently unveiled hair hanging around her face and acting like a curtain. Astrid and Ruffnut looked at each other in shock, not only had she finally taken her hair out of the braid but she had unbound her chest to. To them the only surprise was the hair, sure they had known that it was red and long the length of her plait proven that but they had always thought that she had straight hair, they had never assumed that it didn't look like the usual style on Berk.

Tuffnut couldn't help but stare at Hicca; the fire reflected off her emerald eyes and made the flecks of silver in her eyes shine, like moonlight that had been sent to the heavens. The group of teenagers discreetly moved forward to hear the conversation going on between Hicca and Gobber, Hicca was faced towards them but kept her eyes on the ground and her hair hanging in front of her face.

"Right Hicca, fess up," Gobber stated, staring worriedly down at the young girl as she tried her hardest to avoid his gaze. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Gobber," she said innocently, averting her eyes as he tried once more to catch her stare. Gobber frowned as he heard her talk, her breath came out slightly halted and he knew from years of training and battles that meant something had been done to the persons chest, judging from the fact that Hicca was still walking he thanked Odin that they had not been broken still, Hicca was clumsy yes but she had never been injured bad enough for her ribs to be hurt like that.

"What are you hiding Hicca?" he growled, crossing his meaty arms across his chest and staring down at her only for her to swerve her head at the last second so her hair covered her face. The other teens looked on with interest as the chief's daughter stubbornly faced down with the old warrior; her hair was now tumbling about her face in her effort to hide her eyes from Gobber's relentless stare. Finally the smithy lost his patience and grabbed her jaw firmly in his hand, using the other prosthetic hand, a metal rod for roasting the chicken over the fire to push back her hair, his eyes widened in horror as he took in the colourful bruises that flourished across her face.

The group of teens sat in their circle gaping at her and trying not to look too concerned. The young girls face was like a canvas for the colours, the two bruises were roughly the same size and shape indicating that this had not been just coincidental. Hicca sighed and looked away, missing the sharp glance of hatred that stole through Tuffnut's eyes as he took in her broken complexion. "Look Gobber it's not too bad, I mean it's not as bad as my other ones…," her voice trailed off as she realised what she had admitted and she darted to the side, trying to make a break for the stairs.

"Astrid, hold her" Gobber commanded flatly and the blond girl darted in front of the escaping Hicca, stopping the girl with a well-placed tackle. Hicca shrieked in pain and pushed Astrid off her, grabbing at her ribs as sharp pain shot through her chest her bruised and aching ribs had quickly become worse, she could have sworn she heard a crack when Astrid tackled her. Astrid stood quickly and moved to Gobber's side, "I didn't even tackle her that hard Gobber, she shouldn't be acting like that," Astrid worried, glancing at Gobber as he stared at his wriggling apprentice. "Ay lass, unless she already had something there," he hissed, moving forwards and towering over the young girl.

"What else did they do to you?" Gobber commanded, pulling her up by her arm and gently setting her on her feet, "Can we do this later Gobber it's just I really don't want to take my shirt off her," she mumbled, glancing down embarrassed at the ground, he nodded in approval and turned her to face him, "Just one more question Hicca. Who. Did. it?" he enunciated slowly and she grimaced, looking to the side again. "It was Bones and her gang again wasn't it?" he asked flatly but she could see the murderous glint in his eyes. She nodded slowly and moved closer to the stairwell, ready to block Gobber from going after them.

"Move aside Hicca," he ordered and she shook her head determinedly, standing with her arms crossed across her chest, "No Gobber, I don't care what they did but I will not allow you to go after them. You will not hurt them," she hissed and he narrowed his eyes at her. "I WILL TEACH THEM NOT TO MESS WITH MY APPRENTICE NOW MOVE ASIDE HICCA!" He roared, moving swiftly forward, she glanced pleadingly at the other teens who had been watching this amazed.

The gang of older Vikings had beaten her to a pulp and she was still defending them against Gobber, why would she defend someone who hated her? Tuffnut meanwhile had not even contemplated stopping Gobber, those bastards had hurt his Hicca and it was time the paid for it… wait, his Hicca? Where the hell did that come from? He wondered, seeing Hicca send them another pleading look as she tried to stop the stronger man from escaping and hunting down the gang. Astrid grimaced and moved forward, helping Hicca push Gobber back towards the fire pit, "I heard you have some great stories Gobber, how about you tell us some," Astrid soothed, moving quickly over to the chicken and placing it on Gobber's spit hand over the fire.

"Fine lass but Hicca you will show me what else they did to you. You understand me?" he asked and she nodded hesitantly, padding quietly over to the benches and sitting on Gobber's left, making sure to stay in his range of sight. Once during a dragon raid she had been badly injured and her father had hardly cared but Gobber made sure she stayed within his sight for a week after that, whenever she wasn't he became slightly hysterical.

The other teens quickly pushed the thoughts of what had happened to the back of their minds, all of them sitting comfortably on the logs as they settled in to be regaled by Gobber's stories of past battles and the loss of his arm and leg. Hicca had heard all this before and spent the time staring into the fire and concentrating on her breathing, attempting to ignore the striking pain that was snaking its way up through her left side and settling into her ribs. She looked up briefly and her eyes locked with a pair of silver ones from the spot on her other side.

The group of teens were too busy concentrating on Gobber's story to notice the intense eye conversation going on next to them. Hicca hadn't noticed how handsome Tuffnut was before; his golden hair fell to just above his elbows, contrasting perfectly with his smooth golden skin. Though he was slighter in stature than Snotlout Tuffnut had built up quite a bit of muscle over the years and it showed his lean frame full of hard, compacted muscle. Her gaze was drawn once more to his face and she took in the sight of his eyes, shimmering pools of liquid silver that had never ceased to amaze her, any others Vikings eyes that looked even remotely like his were plain grey, nothing very special about them but his were something different.

His beautiful eyes were set in a handsome face a strong jaw line and prominent cheek bones gave his a slightly aristocratic look, coupled with a sharp nose, arching golden eyebrows and lips that looked both soft and warm it was no wonder she liked him. She started mentally and backtracked, looking over her thoughts of the past few minutes. Since when had she started liking Tuffnut Thorsten, he made her life a living hell practically from the day she was born… then again it wasn't that bad just to look right?

Tuffnut kept the eye contact, his eyes never leaving her face as her eyes quickly scanned his body, his breath hitched in his throat and he tried to look nonchalant, his eyes moving up and down her body in quick glances. Her hair by the firelight looked like it was a light, whipping about her face as the night-time winds buffeted the top of the tower and sent it into disarray about her face. Her emerald eyes locked with his and she stared at him with a strange intensity that almost had him squirming in his seat, her eyes were still scanning his face and he noticed her gaze land on his lips more than once.

He himself couldn't help but think what it would feel like to taste her lips, as soft and juicy looking as the biggest strawberries in springtime. Often when passing her in the village she had reminded him of springtime, no matter the time of year she always seemed to smell of strawberries, her hair, her body, her entire being was almost a strawberry itself. And no matter the season or the weather she always had a bunch of strawberries on hand, often the younger children in the village, those not yet able to understand how much of an outcast she was came running up to her asking her for them, she would always oblige and they would run away happily with their precious treats.

He once more locked eyes with her and he could feel himself falling even further for her, her gaze was full of so many emotions, such pain and sorrow but there was more than that, they held a shine of innocence, hope and peace that comforted Tuffnut. She blushed when she noticed he had caught her looking and turned her head away, biting softly on her lower lip as she tried to concentrate on what Gobber was saying. Tuffnut held in a groan, she didn't know just what she was doing to him, or just how much he liked it.

"…he took my hand and swallowed it whole! I saw the look on his face… I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg," he gestured towards his peg leg and the teenagers drew in a collective breath, Hicca smirked, she had heard this story a million times before and each time it became grander and grander than the last. "Isn't too weird to think you hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from inside by crushing his heart or something," Fishlegs interjected, narrowly avoiding hitting Astrid with his leg of chicken only to get several weird looks from his fellow trainees.

"I swear I'm so angry. I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face," he added, seeing that his peers didn't look so impressed with his earlier statement, Hicca barely managed to hold in a snort of contempt. Gobber made several sounds of disagreement and wiped his greasy face on his sleeve, "It's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon," he finished, finally throwing down the bone of his chicken. Hicca thought of the night fury all alone in the cove and stored the information in the back of her head for later, suddenly the world around her began to go fuzzy.

Her hearing faded in and out and her eyes unfocused, her vision becoming distorted and she began to sway in her seat, unable to keep her balance. "Gobber, I think something's wrong with Hicca," Tuffnut interjected, seeing that Hicca had begun to pale slightly before the swaying began. "Right, Tuffnut pick her up and take her to the healer's hut, I would but I only have one hand to carry her in, the rest of you off to bed, I want you up bright and early for training tomorrow. Tuffnut I'm just going to shut down the forge, take her to hut and quickly, I fear something may have happened to her chest," Gobber ordered and the teens filed out, Tuffnut was left for last and he watched as Gobber walked down the stairs and across the village towards the forge, his steps surprisingly quick for a man with a peg leg.

He reached down and scooped her up, draping her arm around his neck to allow him better chances of not dropping her, one arm encircled her waist and the other her knees, lifting her easily into his arms. He was once more reminded of the way her had carried her before dragon training when she had come stumbling out of the forest half-dead. It seemed Hicca was having the same thought as she giggled suddenly, attracting his attention. "We really have to stop meeting like this," she murmured, laying her head against his chest and cuddling closer to him.

He stiffened for a fraction of a second before relaxing and continuing at his brisk pace, "Such pretty eyes," he heard her quietly whisper to herself, bringing one of her soft hands up to rest on cheek and pull his head in her direction, "Silver," she sighed, dropping her hand and balling it up in his shirt, tucking her other arm securely around his neck and looking up at him. "You need to sleep Hicca, there's something wrong with you and we have to find out what it is. This will all go faster if you're asleep," he muttered, she nodded sleepily and looked up at him innocently.

"I'm trusting you not to drop me Tuffnut, please don't make me regret that" she pleaded softly then relaxed against him, curling at to his warmth even further as he continued his brisk pace, the steady rhythm of his walk soon sending her to sleep. "I promise I won't let you fall," he whispered quietly, unaware even to him just what he meant by those words.


	6. Chapter 6

**JUST TO LET YOU ALL KNOW I'VE STOPPED WITH THE DISCLAIMERS BECAUSE TO BE HONEST WHAT ARE THEY REALLY DOING?! WE ALL KNOW THIS IS FANFICTION SO NONE OF US OWN THE STORY WHY DO WE HAVE TO PUT IT UP THERE? ANYWAY I DOUBT THAT WITH THE MILLONS OF PEOPLE THAT WRITE ON THIS SITE THEY COULD TAKE ALL OF US IN AND THEY CAN'T TAKE SOME AND NOT THE OTHERS IT WOULDN'T BE FAIR! SO THAT JUST TO LET YOU KOW WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THAT. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS STORY TO fandomk FOR BEING A LOYAL READER, YOU GO GIRL! FOR ANYONE WHO HAS ANY QUESTIONS MY INBOX IS ALWAYS OPEN!**

_**MODES OF TALKING**_  
Normal writing  
"People Speaking"**  
"Dragon talking"  
**_Thoughts_

Tuffnut hurried through the village, Hicca was still dozing on his chest and her petite figure was curled up in his arms emanating a feeling of protection within his chest. He couldn't help but stare at the bruises on her face, the angry colours blossomed across her face and he worried for her, if the other bruises she had were worse than these than how bad would they be, she was so innocent, who would want to hurt her? He growled and it vibrated through his chest, Hicca sighed quietly in her sleep and she shifted slightly, her hand tightening its grip on his shirt, her other hand gently sliding back and forth through the hair near his neck.

Tuffnut smiled and moved faster, making sure to lighten his steps as he ascended the stairs to the healers hut, Hicca cradled to his chest like a precious bundle. He halted suddenly when he encountered the door and Hicca moaned in her sleep as his hand around her waist brushed against her ribs, "Sorry," he whispered, gently shifting so his hand was further away, he made sure she was safely positioned before carefully balancing on one foot using the other to kick in the door, quickly rushing into the hut before the door could shut. Tuffnut smirked and moved swiftly across the room, crouching down before one of the end beds and carefully laid her out on it, he made to move away but Hicca still had a firm grip on his shirt that she refused to let go of.

He sighed and gently shook her, watching as her eyes fluttered open and fixed him in their gaze, her soft pink lips parted lightly in surprise before she blushed and released her hand, realising that she had had a firm grip on his shirt. He smirked at her and moved back as Gobber came barrelling through the door, heading straight for his apprentice. He stopped in front of her bed and stared down at her with a stern expression that made her wriggle uncomfortably. "Okay Hicca off with the shirt," Gobber ordered as Hicca's eyes widened, she glanced quickly in Tuffnut's direction and blushed a cherry red, Gobber noticed where she was looking and shook his head, turning back to face Hicca, "Sorry lass but he has to stay, I need him to help me, now off with that shirt before I force you out of it," he growled and Hicca stubbornly shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest and setting her jaw defiantly.

"Tuffnut I'm going to need your help," Gobber said, moving forward and pulling Hicca's arms off her chest, holding them down by her side as she shrieked and kicked out at Gobber, catching him several times with her booted feet. "Quickly boy, grab your knife and cut it off, I'll buy her a new one," Gobber instructed and Tuffnut obeyed, his hand drifting towards his belt as he stepped forward, sending Hicca an apologetic look as she glared angrily up at him, considering this a great betrayal of her trust. He used several deft strokes and her shirt fell into strips that were soon thrown to the side and forgotten. Tuffnut's eyes wandered over the wide expanse of bare skin on display and there was a lot of it, his eyes caught the path of creamy skin that led into her bindings, his eyes widening as he saw the start of the soft globes.

Hicca blushed as she saw his eyes scanning her body, his eyes lingering much longer on her chest, she made to cross her arms and saw his eyes narrow not understanding what he was mad about until she remembered the bruises on her arms and ribs, moving her arms had uncovered both lots and she inwardly yelled at herself, berating herself for showing them to him. Tuffnut could feel a hot swell of fury building up in his head as he observed the bruises from his spot above her, the handprints on her arms were a dark angry purple and red showing a distinct shape of fingers and palms on the otherwise flawless skin. His gaze moved to her chest and ribs and he clenched his fists, his eyes studying the expanse of colours that stretched across them, green, blues, purple, reds, yellows and even black spread across them and he looked up to her face, seeing her flush a dark red under his gaze.

He heard Gobber addressing him to get some bandages to bind her ribs as she had broken a couple when Astrid tackled her, the added weight on the already strained ribs had caused them to break; he thanked Odin that they were lucky enough for them not to have punctured her lungs, if they did she might have died from the blood pooling into her lungs. He hurried and got what Gobber asked for, the smithy asking him to sit behind her and hold her still while Gobber bound them. Hicca blushed again as Tuffnut climbed into the bed with her, pulling her up so she was sitting before sliding behind her and allowing her to rest back against his chest, his chin rested on top of her head as he observed Gobber at work.

Thankful for many years of practise Tuffnut managed to disguise his blush as he felt Hicca leaning further and further into him, she cried out, her back arching off the bed as Gobber tugged tightly on the bandages, securing them quickly with the clip and stepping back. Hicca quietened down as she slowly became accustomed to the bandages, her weight settling back fully onto Tuffnut as he eased her back, gently rubbing soothing circles on her stomach with the pads of his fingers, something he had seen his mother do to calm his sister down on more than one occasion. Gobber watched them silently, noticing the way they seemed to fit perfectly together.

He had seen something like this when he was younger, if he remembered correctly back then it had been Stoick and Valhalarama, the two had denied their feelings for years. In most cases Vikings were unable to understand the feelings they got and since they did not know what they meant it made them angry and resentful towards the person who gave them that feeling, it was only when they got older that that changed. Tuffnut and Hicca had been natural enemies since the first time they met, Tuffnut was already learning to fight, same as his twin and all the others kids their age but Hicca preferred to sketch and invent, she was said to be useless but that wasn't true, at least Gobber knew it wasn't.

While the other kids were out roughhousing and learning to use weapons Hicca had been helping in the forge, by the time she was six she was already making weapons for the village as well as armour and equipment for construction. She had not only learnt how to handle metal but wood as well, easily crafting useful gadgets and inventions that made life a lot easier for Gobber, she had even shown him how to improve the quality of the shields that he made, no one other than him seemed to realise just how special she was. That is until now, Gobber rationalised, watching as the normally fierce and violent Thorsten boy became quiet and calm in the presence of Hicca. He wondered how he ever could have missed it but then realised that it had been of the desperate hope that Hicca would remain alone like him and he would never have to deal with overzealous boys after her affections.

Stoic should have been the one in his place, the man who should have been hanging around the young girl and making sure that she was safe and no perverted young boy took advantage of her but of course thanks to his old friends neglect it was up to him to keep Hicca safe, not that he hated the job in fact she was his daughter more than Stoic's at this point and he worried for her. He would have to keep an eye on that Thorsten boy, if he ever knowingly hurt so much as a hair on Hicca's head Gobber vowed to hunt him down with ruthless intensity. Hicca smiled up at Tuffnut as he ceased his calming motions on her stomach, his silver eyes locking with hers, she blushed and looked down, her hands moving up to gingerly poke at her bandage covered ribs, "Don't you'll just make them worse," Tuffnut scolded, softly slapping her hands away from the bandages, his own cheeks covered with a light pink blush.

"Ay lad, do you think you could carry her back to her house? I don't think that she should be allowed to walk just yet, it could put pressure on her ribs and make them even worse," Gobber asked, hiding a sly smile that occupied his face with the palm of his hand, pretending to be wiping something from his cheek, "Sure Gobber, will she still have to be at training tomorrow?" Tuffnut asked, referring to the girl who had fallen asleep in his arms, her body having shut down to deal with the pain. "Only if she's up to it lad, look there's something you need to know about Hicca. Since she was young she hasn't trusted well anyone 'cept maybe me, she'll get injured, cover it up and pretend it never happened then go about her life like normal. To Hicca acknowledging she's injured in front of others is a weakness and as such she denies it as long as possible. You watch tomorrow she'll be back at training with a smile on her face even if she's dying inside," Gobber explained, inwardly smirking as he saw the concerned look that Tuffnut shot at Hicca.

"See you tomorrow Gobber," Tuffnut said, carefully cradling Hicca in his arms, he nodded to the old smithy and hurried out of the hut missing the knowing look that Gobber shot at the retreating boy's back. "Come on you two open your damn eyes," he whispered, shaking his head at the obliviousness of the two teens. He grimaced as a sharp pain shot up his peg leg and turned, hobbling back to his home so he could sit in front of the fire and warm his aching bones, working with the younger generation often tired him out as he wasn't as fit as he used to be.

Tuffnut grimaced, staring down at Hicca; she had drifted off to sleep in his arms and with her eyes closed he felt no obligations to remain polite and not stare, still having enough respect to keep his eyes off her chest, her shirt hanging in tatters still. The flourishing bruises painted her face an array of colours and they gleamed under the lanterns, his steady pace made sure that she was comfortable and she shifted in her sleep, nuzzling her head into the crook of Tuffnut's neck. The young teen's expression softened and he smiled, lifting a hand to gently brush her fringe away from her face, being careful to avoid her bruises. "Why didn't you tell us?" Tuffnut whispered before hanging his head in shame, remembering the way they treated her, she would have thought they would just brushed her off or made fun of her for being unable to defend herself and he guessed in a way she would be right. They had never shown that they cared about her even the tiniest bit, why would her being hurt change anything.

"I'm sorry," he muttered before steeling his face and his heart. He couldn't feel like this, he was a strong Viking and he would not be brought away from that by some tiny scrap of a girl who barely knew how to hold an axe even if she was utterly adorable and sweet to match. He hurried his steps and took the climb to her house as fast as he dared with her in his arms, once again kicking open the door with his foot; he looked around for a place to set her, not quite comfortable with entering her room. His eyes narrowed in annoyance as he realised that he had no choice but to take her upstairs. He hissed under his breathe and fixed his eyes on the staircase taking the steps two at a time and moving quickly along the walkway, easily finding her room from the time he once snuck in there on a dare.

He pushed open the door and hurried to her bed, carefully laying her against the pillow and pulling the soft fur blanket over her tiny frame. He lingered for a moment unsure of how to proceed before he leant forward so he was hovering over her and pressed a light kiss to her forehead, smoothing back a stray piece of hair that had fallen across her face. "I'm so sorry I didn't save you Hicca," he whispered and turned to leave, quickly exiting her room and rushing down the stairs, leaving her house as quietly as he could so as not to wake the young girl overhead, the heavy wooden door falling closed behind him. He groaned and leant against it, thudding his head against the door as he slumped down, cradling his head in his hands, "Why her, why not someone else, it just had to be the chiefs daughter who couldn't fight and fit in if it killed her," he muttered, shaking his head and leaping to his feet, missing the green eyes that watched him from the window as he wound his way through the village.

"Why him, why couldn't it be someone else, someone who hasn't treated me like crap for half of my life," she moaned, hissing angrily at her train of thought and pushing closed the shutters, moving over to her closet to get another shirt. She tugged it gently over her head and glanced out the window, seeing no other sign of life in the village, the dark streets providing perfect cover for her late night trip. She pulled a dark cloak over her head and hurried out of her house, slithering quietly through the shadows, desperate to reach the forge without being found. Minutes later she entered the forge, taking off her coat and draping it over the hook, muffling a cry as it tugged on her still sore ribs.

She took her sketchbook out from where she had stashed it and laid it out on the table, gazing at the drawing she had done of the night fury, with a few determined strokes of her pencil a second tail fin was added to the night fury's drawing. She grinned and tugged on the apron she used in the forge, taking a few moments to get used to the feel of the leather ties around her bandages. Gritting her teeth Hicca moved towards the forge, striking a flint to start a flame, watching as it roared up into a merry fire. Using all of the skills she had gained over the years she began to work. The night was lit up with the sound of creaking leather bellows and for a moment Hicca worried that the others would hear but dismissed it, believing that the forge was far enough away from the housing to go unheard. The stone forge glowed with every pump, tongs pulling intricate iron pieces from the coals. They're dropped onto the anvil, twisted, lightly hammered, and dunked in a barrel. The pieces were carried to Hicca's workbench and laid out in place on a one-to-one schematic of how she had fashioned her diagram.

Hours after she entered the workshop she donned her cloak and after shutting down the blaze and returning the workshop to its former state she left, a large bundle wrapped in cloth tucked firmly under her arm, impeding her movements as she attempted to move steadily through the shadows. It would only be a few more hours before sunrise and she hoped to get as much rest as she could, the next day training was in the evening so she would have plenty of opportunities to go see the night fury in the morning. Her eyes slowly shut, flickering lightly as she let sleep claim her, her last conscious thought of molten silver eyes that peered at her through the darkness.

She woke the next morning to the roster crowing outside her window and decided to forgo having breakfast in the great hall instead grabbing an apple from her small kitchen and moving outside, tugging her boots over her feet as the chilly morning air caressed her bare arms, sending a shiver through her body. The sun was just barely poking over the horizon and from her hut on top of the hill Hicca could see the whole village laid out before her. She got her sketchbook out of her jacket and quickly drew the view from the hill into her book, thatched roofs, rolling seas, tiny figures moving about all took shape on her paper, her skilled hand giving life to the still drawing.

Tucking her sketchbook back into her jacket she passed quickly through the village, making her way towards the town's food storage. Grabbing a large wicker basket from beside the door she readily filled it with large amounts of fish from the mountainous storage heap, adding fish of all sorts and even an eel so as to find one the dragon would like. Dragons in her village were not studied intensely so their eating, sleeping and mating habits were mostly unknown, the Vikings preferring to study how they attacked, where their weak spots were and what they more commonly went after, hoping that the dragon would be prone to one of the types of fish as she really did not want to lug the basket all the way to the cove only to find that the night fury was not a fan of any of them.

Hicca turned on her heel and hurried out of the storage, fumbling through the village with the basket and hoping not to be noticed before she made it to the forest, if someone caught her it would be difficult to explain why she was heading for the woods with a large basket of fish strapped over her shoulder and a cloth bundle tucked under her arm. Reaching the edge of the forest she exhaled a large gust of breathe, unaware that she had been holding her breath. Turning back to face the village she smiled sadly, finally understanding that she would never be like the other Vikings after all what Vikings would go into the dangerous woods lugging a basket of fish over their shoulder only to feed an injured dragon that was trapped and virtually defenceless.

"Guess I'm not like you huh," she whispered, her voice coloured like belief before her eyes darkened, "Not that you ever wanted me to be," and with that final biting statement she disappeared into the woods, just missing the group of kids that ran past her entrance spot and towards the cliffs, hollering and shouting as they hit their weapons together, hoping to have a fun morning of cliff diving before they went to training. Meanwhile Hicca crept through the woods, her small dagger held before her as she attempted to ward of the dark shadows that crossed the path and tangled around her frame. An icy wind tore across her skin, making goose bumps break out as she shivered and rubbed her arms, attempting to ward off the cold.

A long drawn out howl echoed behind her and she yelped, racing down the path, the basket of fish bumping nosily on her hip as she ran for her life. She slid into the cove entrance, skidding slightly as her boots scraped along the rock path, her arms windmilling as she attempted to keep her balance, fortunately she kept her balance but it was at a cost of the basket falling from her shoulder. She groaned and bent to pick it up, throwing it over her shoulder as she advanced into the cove, "Hey Toothless! I brought breakfast! I hope you're hungry!" she called, dumping the basket to the ground and kicking it over so the top fell off and all the fish inside slid towards the ground, "Okkkay, that's disgusting," she muttered, watching the slimy fish fall against each other. "I've got some salmon, Icelandic cod and a whole smoked eel," she said with smile only for Toothless to pull back with a growl from where he had buried his face inside the fish pie, **"Evil! Devil snake!" **a voice screeched and Hicca jerked back, her head whipping back and forth wildly as she attempted to discover the source of the voice.

Toothless back away further, a deep rumbling growl spewing from his chest, **"Wait… was that you?" **she whispered in awe, it was Toothless' go to jerk back and his massive head turned towards her at an alarming pace. **"You can understand me?"** Toothless asked amazed, slowly moving towards her only to step on the pile of fish, drawing back with a startled hiss, **"If you can understand me remove the yellow and black devil snake,"** he growled and she walked forward quickly, picking it up between her thumb and forefinger, tossing it quickly to the side, **"Okay I get it, I don't really like eel either,"** she soothed, watching as he nodded in thanks an stepped forward, devouring the pile of fish.

"**So how can I understand you?" **she asked **"And how exactly can you understand me?"** she added, curious to find the reason for the sudden change in communication, **"Silly human, you're talking in dragonese not that strange language you speak. When you touched me yesterday you must have created a riders bond, one has not been made between a human like you and a dragon in hundreds of years," **he spoke between bites of fish, tipping his head back to let the slimy substance slide down his throat. **"A riders bond, I'm a Viking I'm meant to hate dragon but nooo I go and bond with one,"** she muttered, pacing back and forth and wringing her hands. **"Hang on what do you mean a human like me?" **she asked offended, thinking he was making a jibe at her size, **"A Viking as you call yourself there have been several from a place called Greece but that was about a hundred years ago, the funny thing is they were a tribe of only women, called themselves amazons, pretty sure they're still around" **he added nonchalantly, finishing the fish and nosing around the basket to see if there were any left.

"**Okay so what does being a rider entail?" **she asked curiously, wanting to know what she had gotten herself into, **"Well normally it would mean you would be able to ride me when I fly but unfortunately I cannot fly anymore, when you shot me down you removed one of my tail fins, I am unable to stay airborn," **he sighed mornfully and Hiccas eyes went wide, her lower lip trembling,** "I am so sorry, I didn't think I just wanted to impress my dad," **she wept, throwing herself at Toothless and hugging him around the neck, startling the black dragon.** "What do you mean impress your father, does he not like you?" **Toothless asked and Hicca shook her head, stepping back and rubbing her eyes, **"No, I'm not big and strong like the others, I don't know how to fight, I can't even lift an axe," **she groaned, and tugged on the ends of her hair, **"What is that?"** Toothless asked, nosing at the leather covered bundle and Hicca brighened up.

"**This Toothless is going to help you fly again,"** Hicca said brightly patting the bundle, **"Why do you keep calling me Toothless?"** he asked, cocking his head to the side as he tried to hide his excitement at the prospect of flying again. **"Oh sorry, I didn't really know if you had a name and well I thought you know Toothless 'caus the first time I met you you're teeth were retracted,"** she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck and shuffling awkwardly, **"I like it."** he declared, nodding emphatically and nosing at the undle, **"So what is this?"** he asked again, nosing at the bundle till Hicca unfolded it, **"Well it's a prostetic tail all I have to do is fasten it to the end of your tail and with the help of this pedal I'll be able to make it work the same as the other tail fin the only problem is I haven't yet figured out how to make it work on its own so I would have to ride on your back,"** she finished quietly but Toothless still caught it. **"Okay," **he said bluntly, surprising her.** "Really you'll allow me to ride you?" **she asked excitedly.

"**Of course you are my rider and that means that we fly together," **he nodded resolutely and she threw her arms around his neck **"But first what is your name young one, with all of this excitement I have yet to learn it,"** Toothless looked up at her and she grinned, **"My name is Hicca Horrendous Haddock the third, daughter, only child and heir to Chief Stoick of Berk and the Hairy Holligans, also known as Useless, stuff up and idiot," **she quoted dully, dropping her head to look at the ground, **"Who says these things?" **Toothless growled, angry that someone would say that to his human, **"Everyone in the village, even my own Dad sometimes says them," **she whispered earning a fierce growl from Toothless as he heard that her father would say such things. **"Shall we try to fly?"** Toothless asked, hoping to get her mind off the sad topic, **"Yes!"** Hicca exclaimed, glancing up with wide eyes. She grabbed the prostetic tail and ran around to crouch by his tail, carefully strapping the fake fin so it fit snugly next to the real one.

Just as the final strap was tightened Toothless spread his wings, shuffling a few times to get used to the weight he took off in a looping gallop, throwing himself into the air as he took off, his massive wings spreading wide as the flapped sreongly, sending leaves dancing as he attempted to stay in the air, Hicca shrieked as they took off, clutching desperately to Toothless's tail as she tried not to fall off, Toothless noticed something was wrong as he began to uncontrolably fall downwards, flicking his wings desperately. Hicca took a deep breath and inched her way along his tail towards his fins, reaching out both hands as she griped his tail between her thighs, hoping to all the gods that she would survive. Her hands closed around the rough material and she yanked it open, Toothless sensing the change in the tail fin quickly changed his flight path, swooped just above the ground and jetted striaght up, making Hicca shriek as she attempted not to fall off.

They made it out of the cove and Hcca cheered, "It's working," she cried out, loosing concentration for a second as Toothless veered to the right, his tail fin changing as she did the same, they swooped back over the cove and Hicca grinned widely, "Yes! Yes! I did it!" she yelled and Toothless veered sharply, Hicca losing her grip as she plummeted back towards the cove, luckily the lake was directly below her and she dropped in, the water rippling madly as the force of the drop jolted the water. Without Hicca controlling the tail fin it snapped closed and Toothless began to fall, diving head first into the lake with a loud screech of indignation. Hicca crawled towards the edge of the lake and sat down, tugging off her sodden boots and vest, placing them neatly on a nearby rock to dry. Toothless followed her out and opened his mouth, breathing out harshly so a stream of fire hit the ground, creating a bed of fiery coals that wasn't too hot nor to cold. He circled a few times before dropping down exhausted, flicking out his tail so Hicca could remove the prosthetic fin.

She quickly undid the straps and rolled it back up in the cloth, stowing it away in a corner of the cove that was protected by a thick layer of roots. Goose bumps broke out across her skin as a cold breeze swept through the cove; she shivered and clutched her arms to her chest as she attempted to ward off the cold. A snort from Toothless drew her attention and she glanced over, seeing him gesturing for her to come over with his head. She moved quickly and his tail wrapped around her waist, pulling her over to him so she was nestled into the thick hide of his stomach, the warm coals heating her up as Toothless wrapped her in his wing like it was a blanket. **"Thanks bud,"** she sighed, leaning her head against his leg as a makeshift pillow. **"Wake me up at noon please I have to be in class by about an hour after that so yeah…" **her voice trailed off as she slowly slipped into a trance like state before succumbing to sleep, her late night adventure had left her more tired than she realised. **"Sleep little one, I will look after you," **Toothless muttered, letting his head drops to his paws as he watched the birds overhead with a wistful air, knowing that if anyone could help him fly again it would be his hatchling, his first friend and only friend. It would be Hicca.


End file.
